Increased Spectrum Availability Will Relieve Pressures Created By Rising Data Usage, FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Says

摘要

Unless the U.S. is able to increase the amount of available spectrum, there will be a gap betweennsupply and demand as mobile data use continues to increase, said FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth MilkmannTuesday during a Broadband Breakfast event. Today’s smartphone and app economy “simply didnnot exist” in 2008; between 2009 and 2012, mobile traffic grew by 1,275 percent, and that level of growthnwill continue through 2017, she said. That demand is being driven by the proliferation of smartphones,nand that “necessitates” the need to increase spectrum availability, Milkman said. The federal governmentnhas been engaged in a series of efforts to increase spectrum availability, including the FCC’s considerationsnof the 3.5 GHz and 5 GHz bands and the ongoing evaluation of the 1755-1850 MHz band. Wirelessncarriers have responded to the spectrum crunch by increasing their use of data caps to curb customers' datanuse. While such caps are controversial, industry experts noted that the industry is changing so rapidly thatnit is not useful to specifically target the use of caps in the midst of larger competition issues.