spectrum

Editors' note: This is a guest column. See Morgan Reed's bio below.

In the Broadway musical "Oliver!," orphaned Oliver Twist famously holds out his empty bowl and asks, "Please sir, may I have some more?" For those of us who make mobile applications, we feel like Oliver, holding out our virtual bowl, begging for more spectrum to fill the hungry bellies of our customers.

App developers cheered when the divided Congress passed legislation providing for incentivized spectrum auctions while freeing up unlicensed spectrum. This is a step in the right direction, but it didn't … Read more

With the passage last week of legislation authorizing the FCC to conduct new spectrum auctions, you might think that the looming spectrum crisis has been averted.

Nothing could be farther from the truth--or more dangerous to the continued health of the mobile ecosystem.

To avoid severe service interruptions or outright collapse of mobile networks, the FCC's 2010 National Broadband Plan estimated that mobile users will need an additional 300MHz of spectrum by 2015 and an additional 500 MHz by 2020. Many industry insiders believe these estimates are actually low.

The FCC now has the authority to conduct auctions to … Read more

T-Mobile USA faces a daunting uphill climb as it looks to turn itself around.

The nation's fourth-largest wireless provider, two months removed from a failed attempt to merge with AT&T, today laid out its comeback plan, which includes improving its existing network and deploying 4G LTE by 2013. Parent Deutsche Telekom has committed to investing $4 billion in the business, and signaled a willingness to explore other options, which could include an initial public offering or the sale of assets.

That T-Mobile is investing in its network and getting serious again about winning back customers is positive … Read more

T-Mobile is not too pleased with a plan Verizon Wireless has hatched to acquire nearly $4 billion in wireless spectrum.

According to The Washington Post, which obtained the documents, T-Mobile lodged a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission yesterday, urging the government agency to block the sale of wireless spectrum from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks--collectively known as SpectrumCo.--to Verizon.

According to the Post, T-Mobile believes the sale could provide Verizon with an "excessive concentration" of wireless spectrum.

Verizon announced plans to acquire the so-called Advance Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum in December. If the … Read more

Dish Network, sitting on an increasingly valuable stash of spectrum vital to powering wireless data traffic, is waiting on a key waiver from the Federal Communications Commission before deciding on its next move.

The waiver, similar to one that the FCC yanked from LightSquared earlier this week, would allow Dish to use its spectrum to build its own high-speed wireless network. If the FCC doesn't grant the conditional waiver to Dish, it would explore several options including the sale of the spectrum or a partnership with another carrier, CNET has learned.

The moves that Dish could make have broader … Read more

It looks like Congress will finally authorize incentive spectrum auctions.

Today, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate agreed on legislation that will authorize the extension of the payroll tax cuts and the unemployment benefits. And they also authorized the Federal Communications Commission to auction off wireless spectrum as part of the package. Revenue from the incentive auctions will be used to help pay for the tax cuts and unemployment benefits.

The spectrum auction was proposed as part of the 2010 National Broadband Plan. It calls for TV broadcasters who have wireless spectrum they aren'… Read more

Editors' note: This is a guest column. See Roger Entner's bio below.

Spectrum is the fuel that runs wireless, and the country is quickly running out of it.

In fact, the U.S. will run out of spectrum capacity to support wireless broadband networks in the next three to five years. That's not just my opinion. The White House, the FCC, and Congress share it, which is remarkable in this era of never-ending disagreements inside the beltway.

So the hunt is on for more spectrum. But there are few options because spectrum is scarce, with most of it … Read more

Two years into a decade-long plan to free up wireless spectrum to handle an explosion in mobile data traffic growth, Washington politics are crippling the Federal Communications Commission's ability to reach any of its goals.

In March 2010, the FCC identified in its National Broadband Plan a dire need for more spectrum in the U.S. It outlined a timeline for getting 300 megahertz of spectrum in the pipeline by 2015 with an additional 200MHz opened up for auction by 2020. In total the plan would create 500MHz of new wireless spectrum that could be auctioned off, or nearly … Read more

Well, that didn't take long.

AT&T appears ready to get back in the hunt for more spectrum, now eying smaller wireless rivals MetroPCS and Leap Wireless and satellite-TV provider Dish Network, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Dallas-based telecommunications giant is just two months removed from the collapse of its deal with T-Mobile USA, which would have given the company additional spectrum, allowing it to bulk up its network and better handle the rising tide of cellular traffic driven by smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices.

The T-Mobile deal was essentially halted by regulators as anti-competitive, … Read more