The Innovation Bands

President Obama has outlined a Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative that promises high-speed “4G” mobile broadband for 98% of Americans while raising over $27 billion from spectrum auctions to pay for a nationwide, inter-operable public safety network and other innovations.

This forum featured a briefing by officials at the White House, NTIA and FCC who are leading this initiative. They outlined the Administration’s 10-year plan to free up 500 MHz more spectrum for exclusive licensing and for shared and unlicensed use.

Following that was a panel of spectrum policy experts from high-tech companies and public interest groups that support freeing up spectrum for both licensed and unlicensed use, expanding on the new “innovation band” for Super WiFi on unused TV channels.

As they discussed, central to America’s wireless future is the need to double the spectrum capacity currently accessible for mobile broadband, including both commercial networks and WiFi. They offered solutions on how needed spectrum should be freed up, and discussed the bipartisan push for “voluntary incentive auctions” of more TV channels.

Participants

Panelists
Larry Atlas
Senior Adviser to Assistant Secretary of NTIA
US Department of Commerce

Phil Weiser
Senior Advisor for Technology and Innovation
National Economic Council

Ruth Milkman
Bureau Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau
Federal Communications Commission

Paula Boyd
Regulatory Affairs Counsel
Microsoft

Rick Whitt
Director & Managing Counsel, Telecom and Media Policy
Google Inc

Harold Feld
Legal Director
Public Knowledge

Michael Calabrese
Senior Research Fellow, Open Technology Initiative
Founder, Wireless Future Project
New America Foundation