CTIA, carriers urge FCC to open up more spectrum

The FCC has received a raft of comments urging the commission to make more licensed wireless spectrum commercially available, and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski once again acknowledged that the country faces a "spectrum gap."

Unsurprisingly, numerous organizations and carriers, including CTIA and the Tier 1 operators, filed comments to the FCC arguing additional spectrum will be needed in the near-term to handle what is widely forecast to be an explosion in mobile data traffic over the next several years. CTIA asked the commission to identify and allocate at least 800 MHz of additional licensed spectrum for commercial use.

Earlier this month, at the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment show in San Diego, Genachowski said he understood the need for more spectrum. He said the FCC would look at re-allocating spectrum, encouraging efficient spectrum usage and potentially freeing up more spectrum for unlicensed use.

In an interview with BusinessWeek, he reiterated his position. "The demands that are being created by the iPhone and other mobile broadband technologies threaten to outstrip the amount of spectrum available for commercial mobile, and it's important for the country that we get long-term planning right because it takes time to identify spectrum and put it on the market," he said. "We're looking at potential innovations in spectrum policy, such as secondary licensing for spectrum, and other, more creative ideas for unlicensed spectrum."

For more:
- see this BusinessWeek article

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