Wireless Carriers, Cable Operators Not Hoarding Spectrum, FCC Chief Says

Wireless carriers and cable companies aren’t “hoarding” spectrum, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a speech at a Mobile Futures conference Wednesday, answering in part accusations lobbed by the NAB against the NCTA. But he also offered reassurance to broadcasters, clarifying that a proposed incentive auction will be voluntary and acknowledging that broadcast TV remains critical.

"Despite the increasing acceptance of the incentive auction idea, as with any new idea, there are misimpressions being floated by some who want to preserve the status quo even in this time when change is necessary for our economic future,” Genachowski said. “The looming spectrum shortage is real -- and it is the alleged hoarding that is illusory.”

Genachowski said the FCC has detected no signs that cable companies and wireless carriers are keeping out of the market spectrum they've bought. “It is not hoarding if a company paid millions or billions of dollars for spectrum at auction and is complying with the FCC’s build-out rules,” he said. “There is no evidence of noncompliance."

Genachowski also said he’s not concerned that proposals to repack the TV band would stifle the use of the TV white spaces for wireless broadband. “There’s no plan that would not leave a fundamental broadcast architecture in place, so there would continue to be white spaces,” he said. “The hope and expectation is that would free up enough spectrum so that we could add to the current inventory of white spaces."

Broadcasters still have a valuable role, Genachowski said. “Broadcasters continue to provide important and valuable programming -- and many are creatively bringing their programming to multiple platforms,” he said. “Broadcasters’ efforts to become multiplatform programming entities should be encouraged, and we should work together to remove barriers to such efforts."

Genachowski said Congress should not wait for a national spectrum inventory before giving the agency incentive-auction authority. “The good news is that we have already completed a baseline spectrum inventory that tells us more than enough to conclude that incentive auctions are an essential item to add to the FCC’s toolkit,” he said.

Both the NAB and CTIA indicated they were pleased with Genachowski’s comments. “NAB appreciates Chairman Genachowski’s acknowledgment that hundreds of broadcasters are developing new and creative business models on multiple platforms to serve millions of viewers,” President Gordon Smith said. “We're also encouraged by his repeated promise that reclamation of additional TV spectrum will be entirely voluntary, and that broadcasters who don’t ‘volunteer’ won’t be forced into inferior bands."

"Broadcasters are simply wrong to suggest that America’s wireless companies are hoarding spectrum,” said CTIA President Steve Largent. “The airwaves are a finite resource and America cannot afford to have an industry whose viewership is declining stand in the way of our ability to meet businesses’ and consumers’ demand for all that the mobile Internet makes possible."

Mobile Future released a study by wireless technology assessment and integration consultant Peter Rysavy offering a grim view of the country’s wireless future unless more spectrum is brought online quickly for wireless broadband. “If the spectrum deficit is not immediately addressed, demand is predicted to exceed existing network capacity in three to four years, hitting urban areas with the busiest networks and where the highest density of users are concentrated,” Rysavy said. “If just 50 percent of the new spectrum promised in the National Broadband Plan is made commercially available, demand will still exceed capacity by 2017.” About 2.4 million jobs are at risk, the report said.