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CitiGroup: There Is No Spectrum Shortage
There's Just a Bunch of Squatters

Back in March an individual that worked with the FCC on their broadband plan insisted that this industry-wide claim that there is a "spectrum shortage" was completely manufactured. It's an illusion created by the nation's largest spectrum squatters, who, as with the "Exaflood," use fear to push government toward beneficial policy (X won't happen if we're not allowed to hoard more spectrum). That argument was propped up this week by a CitiGroup analysis that again argues the problem is squatters, not availability:

quote:
"Too much spectrum is controlled by companies that are not planning on rolling out services or face business and financial challenges," wrote Jason Bazinet and Michael Rollins. "We do not believe the U.S. faces a spectrum shortage."... “Today, U.S. carriers have 538 MHz of spectrum, and an additional 300 MHz of additional spectrum waiting in the wings. But only 192 MHz is in use today," they said.
However, the group goes on to insist that companies like Verizon and AT&T are somewhat hamstrung by the fact much of their spectrum is tied up in legacy 3G services. Still, Verizon has been on the record stating they face no real spectrum constraints when it comes to LTE deployment, and analysts argue AT&T has enough spectrum -- they simply had a history of cutting corners on investment, something that led to their 2009 iPhone PR implosion. AT&T's now using said spectrum crisis as one of the justifications of their $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile.

Meanwhile, government leaders like FCC boss Julius Genachowski help prop up the meme of a spectrum crisis -- because there's billions to be made off of auctioning off spectrum to huge companies with no intention of using it.

Most recommended from 18 comments


Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL

2 recommendations

Mr Matt

Member

No hope for consumers!

Our fascist lawmakers marching in lockstep with the wireless industry are assuring consumers they will never have the luxury of a competitive wireless industry. I theory with the amount of spectrum that the incumbent wireless carriers have they should be able to operate their networks on a non blocking basis. When our lawmakers agreed to sell off an irreplaceable national resource they should have included a use it or loose it clause in the sales agreement, giving the purchaser a finite period in which to activate service or be forced to return the spectrum to the government.