By Allen Nogee
If, like so many Americans, you are forced to drive to work during rush-hour traffic in a big city, then you probably also have a good appreciation for why the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction is so important to companies that offer or plan to offer wireless services. Spectrum, to a service provider is like lanes of highway to a commuter.
During the time when most wireless traffic was voice, spectrum wasn't a large issue because a single voice call uses relatively little spectrum, and hundreds of voice calls can be carried within a 10 MHz chunk of spectrum. But high-speed wireless data, like WiMAX or 3G cellular, is different.
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