Every day more than 200 million people use it to stay in touch, do business or catch up with friends and family. Americans send more than 7 billion written messages over it each month. It supports more than 3.6 million jobs and a rapidly growing share of America's gross domestic product. Soldiers rely on it to do their jobs more precisely, at lower risk to themselves and innocent civilians. Police and firefighters use it to save lives. It helps big businesses become more productive, and enables small businesses to compete more effectively against larger players.
There are few more important natural resources than our radio spectrum. An increasingly essential platform for how we work, live, play and learn, radio spectrum may be the most critical infrastructure element of 21st century economies.
It is also one of the scarcest, thanks in large measure to artificial constraints imposed by public policy. It does not have to be this way. Just as crop rotation and other practices of modern agriculture dramatically improved humans' capacity to feed themselves... as modern air-traffic-control systems made possible 20th century air travel... and as advancing technologies enable us to find and extract oil and natural gas more efficiently, thus extending the global supply of energy... so too do we have the technology and techniques to significantly expand the use and usability of spectrum. What is needed is permission. A more enlightened and progressive policy approach can dramatically expand America's (and the world's) supply of precious radio spectrum -- despite the fact that it is, like any other natural resource, finite.
Indeed, the irony is that our systems of regulating spectrum -- based on a recognition of its scarcity -- are now, in fact, rendering it much less abundant. This is a classic case of the law of unintended consequences. Today's spectrum scarcity is very much an artificial product of archaic public policies. While both technology and the public's need for wireless telecommunications have leapt ahead exponentially over the past two decades, outdated rules and regulations too often don't permit -- much less encourage -- more productive use and management of this critical resource. On average, only slightly more than 5% of the radio spectrum is used nationally at any given time.
How we address and manage spectrum scarcity is one of the most important public policy challenges our country faces as we move deeper into the 21st Century. Efficient spectrum policy can drive technological innovation and productivity and, thus, our entire economy. Indeed, if our nation manages its spectrum resources well, it will have a competitive advantage in the global market that will benefit all our citizens, concurrently giving the public safety community the resources it needs to take advantage of advanced communications technologies.
The good news is that innovators are constantly creating devices that are capable of using spectrum more robustly and more efficiently. "Cognitive radios," for example, can tell where they are and modify their transmissions to limit interference and to use spectrum that would otherwise lie fallow. By contrast, many older technologies waste valuable spectrum. Policies that encourage spectrum users to retire antiquated systems, and that encourage technological innovation, can greatly increase spectrum efficiency.
As a country we must move quickly to change our approach to the regulation of spectrum and to the use of spectrum both by government and the private sector. We have seen positive proposals recently from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Spectrum Task Force Report and President's Spectrum Initiative, but much more is needed. We need to encourage the use of more efficient technologies, allow greater flexibility in the use and transfer of spectrum, inject free market discipline into spectrum policy, recognize the value of both licensed and unlicensed wireless services, and insist on more collaboration between government and industry. We also should encourage the adoption of similar spectrum policies by the international community.
Policymakers must do more than piecemeal reforms. They must aggressively adopt a modern spectrum policy that catalyzes increased societal benefits and marketplace efficiencies for consumers and businesses. The Bush Administration is working on just such an initiative, and it must act boldly. As Congress rewrites the telecommunications laws, it should insist upon flexible and efficient management by the spectrum regulators - the FCC and the NTIA. And as the FCC implements the laws and continuously reviews existing regulations, it must make a priority of maximizing spectrum capacity, thereby addressing the needs of a growing population of Americans whose productivity is inextricably tied to the ubiquitous availability of wireless services. In the 21st century, Congress and the expert agencies have a unique opportunity to lead the world in establishing a transformative spectrum policy thatcontinually increases efficiency and embraces future wireless technologies that add economic value and improve our quality of life. Without change, our nation's valuable spectrum resource will be tragically underutilized.
This paper identifies several emerging wireless technologies that will be central to smart uses of spectrum and efficient management, and recommends concrete market-based policy initiatives that will allow our nation to maximize its wireless potential.
