CTIA Chief Baker Seeks New National Plan on Spectrum for Wireless Broadband

CTIA President Meredith Baker wants a new national plan on spectrum for wireless broadband, given that the U.S. is already half way through the administration’s 2010 plan calling for 500 MHz of new spectrum in 10 years, she said at an Accenture broadband conference. “I encourage you to look back at the numbers,” Baker said in her prepared remarks. “They seemed like aggressive estimates. Turns out those estimates simply captured the skyrocketing growth in mobile usage.” Five years ago, the FCC forecast 41 petabytes of monthly data use in the U.S., but the actual amount was 10 percent higher, she said. “By 2012 and 2013, traffic was 25 percent higher than the FCC’s projected growth rates,” Baker said. Wireless industry growth depends on licensed spectrum, Baker said. “When and how we introduce 5G in the United States depends, in part, upon whether we keep our spectrum policy as forward-looking as our industry,” she said. “The question we face is will the U.S. continue to embrace licensed spectrum, the approach that has made us the global leader in 4G.” Baker also said too much emphasis now is on spectrum sharing. Shared spectrum is a “complement” not a “replacement” for licensed spectrum, she said. “Clearing spectrum will never look easy, particularly years before an auction,” she said. “To be fair, it will never be easy. But it can be done and needs to be done if we are to remain the global leader in mobility.”