Thanks to Cable News for the linkback.

Well the FCC mostly wants to get it out of the hands of the TV broadcasters into the hands of the mobile operators.

So from one cabal to another while lining the coffers of the govt. with double process auction money along the way. Adam Smith would be so proud!

I think we are in a land-grab phase regarding spectrum. Getting spectrum out of the hands of the public sector and into the private sector tracks nicely to a capitalist world view.

Lobbying the govt. to release more spectrum doesn't strike me as hugely free market actually but whatever. After all the FCC has the last word in these auctions.

If big carriers are really scared of a spectrum crunch then surely they would be doing more about it that is actually under their control?

It's a capitalism thing.

Yeah, its a finite resource, so why aren't carriers investing more in sharing, roaming and tech ways to re-use spectrum? AT&T and Verizon basically said "no way" when asked about spectrum sharing.

Doesn't seem like managing towards a sustainable future now, does it?

Whether or not there is a "shortage" now is less relevant than the reality that spectrum is a finite resource.

That cost of entrance barrier is the sort of thing Dish faces, whether it will admit to it or not.  Wonder how long before this spectrum king in the making tries to annex Dish's holdings. JB

Maybe not a shortage, more like a lack of access, the cost of entrance is just too high.

It's like copper -- the industry will go through great lengths to keep using whichever resource is already there and already available.  If we do run into a real spectrum shortage, we'll see all kinds of tricks for wringing more out of the spectrum.

But I like your point towards the end, Dan -- for smaller players, there really is kind of a shortage.