The Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) Innovation Movement has launched the Spectrum Crunch Clock to visualize the economic costs of delay in spectrum reform.
On March 16, 2010, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unveiled a plan to address the nation’s shortage of wireless broadband capability by repurposing unused broadcast spectrum, but intense lobbying by broadcast television stations has stalled progress on the program.
CEA’s Innovation Movement urges consumers to take action and write their Members of Congress in support of the need for more spectrum for new and innovative wireless broadband services.
To address this issue, the FCC has adopted a bipartisan plan to use incentive auctions to migrate underutilized broadcast spectrum to broadband services. A voluntary incentive auction would enable interested television broadcasters to get paid for returning their underutilized spectrum. It is estimated the auctions alone would generate approximately $33 billion for the U.S. Treasury and allow the spectrum to be used for wireless broadband and other services. This estimate assumes all reclaimed spectrum is auctioned.
CEA has calculated the value of lost opportunity to the U.S. economy and American consumers, and suggests that each minute the spectrum is not reallocated to higher value services, the American public is realizing a lost opportunity cost of $14,444, or $7.6 billion each year.
For more information, visit Innovation-Movement.com
