For any idiot who claims that auctioning spectrum leads to faster change than going unlicensed (and letting the edges and equipment makers create new services) I have one word for you.
Clearwire has been around for many years now. Clearwire is a start-up run by Craig McCaw (who previously sold his cellular firm to AT&T for gazillions) that promises wireless broadband for everyone.
Clearwire’s chief asset here is a chunk of licensed (i.e. bought) frequency spectrum.
Clearwire’s home spectrum is at around 2.5 GHz, close to that of WiFi. In order to exploit this spectrum, however, Clearwire has to build its own antenna network. So far it has covered just a few dozen cities here and there. Its service plans offer slower-than-DSL speeds at more-than-DSL price. It has also begun offering VOIP service over that spectrum, at no less than Vonage charges.
Now, remember, this is what the idiots at the PFF and morons like "Professor" Gerry Faulhaber tell us is the future of competition in the telecomm space. They want to auction all frequency spectrum (Faulhauber calls it the "Big Bang") so that no one will be able to use unlicensed spectrum any more — so that outfits like Clearwire will be your only alternative to the phone-cable duopoly.
This is madness.
There is already an enormous industry built around the piddling unlicensed WiFi bands, while frequencies like those of Clearwire (and Sprint) are, for the most part, still being hoarded.
The experiment has gone on long enough, and the results are more than clear.
Open spectrum means more service, to more people, at lower prices, and bigger markets than licensed spectrum.
Period.
Anyone who argues against this proposition is either a Luddite, a tool of the monopolists, or blind to reality.
If you want to have growth, innovation, opportunity, and an open Internet, we need more open spectrum. This is now a plain stone cold fact.
Yet if you go to Washington, you’re going to find them listening to idiots like Faulhaber and Adam Thierer of PFF, telling them they should eliminate the unlicensed spectrum we have and sell it all for a quick buck.
Madness.
You left out McCaw’s role in Nextel, which is an important part of the story. Clearwire is just Nextel redux for the broadband age. Both companies have taken undervalued spectrum and slowly but surely used it to create a network rivaling that of those who spent 10X as much or more on auctions. So, while I’m not sure I agree that Clearwire is a good example of the failings of licensed spectrum (of which there are many) i do agree they are a good example of why spectrum auctions do nothing to help the consumer. More innovation has come out of junk spectrum used by Nextel and Clearwire and unlicensed spectrum than has come out of auctioned licensed spectrum.
You left out McCaw’s role in Nextel, which is an important part of the story. Clearwire is just Nextel redux for the broadband age. Both companies have taken undervalued spectrum and slowly but surely used it to create a network rivaling that of those who spent 10X as much or more on auctions. So, while I’m not sure I agree that Clearwire is a good example of the failings of licensed spectrum (of which there are many) i do agree they are a good example of why spectrum auctions do nothing to help the consumer. More innovation has come out of junk spectrum used by Nextel and Clearwire and unlicensed spectrum than has come out of auctioned licensed spectrum.