The "finite" source becomes infinite when the FCC says so. This is cynical on my part, but there is already technology that could alleviate this "crunch". However, that would stop the monopoly and remove the reason to auction, remove a cash infusion to the FCC and really flow against the tide, politically.
Re: Will it survive?You have that right. Hoping that U.S. broadcasters will give up spectrum won't make it happen. Money talks. But as the price of spectrum keeps ging up, the question is who would come up with the money if not the big companies that already control the spectrum.
Re: Will it survive?When we run out of usable radio spectrum for services, "peak spectrum" if you will. I would think that there will actually be a lot of reuse of existing spectrum in the coming years. But as Wheeler notes, some spectrum is better for wireless services than other spectrum.
Re: Will it survive?The reverse auction for the broadcasters to figure out who is giving up spectrum and how much means it isn't going to be clear for a while what is available. The whole thing is pretty complicated, even with more than a year left to figure it out.
Re: Will it survive?A mid-2015 auction and "hoping" are the clue that this is not a done deal. It's unlikely that broadcasters are going to give up spectrum unless there's a pretty nice chunk of change to be pocketed. It would seem the FCC could just put some pressure here and there to get what they want, but the political realities won't allow that of course.
Re: Will it survive?..and to add to your comments, I was amused to see how the FCC is "hoping" that US Broadcasters will give up some of their spectrum--What incentive do they have as they clamour ever more for it all?
Re: Will it survive?The only thing I feel compelled to point out is that the auctions have continued for more than 15 years. When does the "finite resource" actually become finite?
Will it survive?Will be very, very curious to see if this survives running the lobbying gauntlet over the next few months. AT&T's certainly very, very busy trying to kill anything that could potentially restricting them from owning as much spectrum as possible.
The "finite" source becomes infinite when the FCC says so. This is cynical on my part, but there is already technology that could alleviate this "crunch". However, that would stop the monopoly and remove the reason to auction, remove a cash infusion to the FCC and really flow against the tide, politically.