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COMMENT SOUGHT ON SPECTRUM FOR BROADBAND

Source: FCC

Date: 09/23/2009

In response to the National Broadband Plan NOI, the Commission received a number of comments.Commenters from across the industry argue that a priority of the Commission should be to make available more spectrum for commercial uses. Some commenters suggest it is the exponential growth in data traffic on mobile broadband networks that makes it imperative the Commission allocate additional spectrum for mobile broadband use. Others state it is the demand from enterprise businesses and critical infrastructure entities that drives the need for additional spectrum. Fixed wireless broadband is often cited as an appropriate and cost-effective means to provide last mile Internet access, particularly in rural areas. Generally, the comments highlight a need for the Commission to explore the possibility of making additional spectrum available for wireless broadband services and to look for ways to use spectrum more efficiently.

Commenters’ description of the demand for wireless broadband underlies the present inquiry. CTIA notes that the wireless market in the United States now encompasses over 270 million subscribers.The vast number of mobile devices also place heavy burdens on networks. Motorola notes that more than 78 percent of U.S. wireless consumers have a wireless device that is capable of accessing the Internet, and approximately 40 million American consumers are active users of mobile Internet services—a 75 percent increase from two years
ago. According to Wireless Communications Association International (WCAI), a traditional handheld device, with average customer usage patterns, will consume about 30 megabytes of data in a month, a single smart phone consumes 30 times that amount, and a single connected notebook or laptop computer is consuming 450 times that amount. T-Mobile’s experience reinforces this theme; customers of T-Mobile’s G1 smartphone use 50 times the data of an average T-Mobile customer. Finally, wireless devices are increasingly used to access bandwidth intensive applications, such as video, Internet gaming, and social networking. WCAI notes that these kinds of mobile data applications require bandwidth between 1 and 5 Mbps, compared to 6 to 12 kbps for a mobile voice
call.

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