FCC’s broadband coordinator warns of spectrum shortage

The U.S. faces an urgent problem in a looming spectrum shortage, Blair Levin, executive director of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative for the Federal Communications Commission, told SuperCOMM attendees today. Unlike past administrations, which had cleared spectrum available for auction or distribution, President Obama took office facing the task of clearing spectrum already in use in order to satisfy new wireless demand.

Mobile broadband is going to be the biggest driver of growth and changes in processes at a Congressional level, Levin said. But if the US doesn’t get more spectrum, it will become the Doug Flutie of mobile broadband, Levin joked. Flutie, a great football player never made it big in the US based on his 5’10’’ height. “For spectrum, there may be technology that changes some things, but the demand is just so great,” Levin said. It has to overcome its “height” limitations. AT&T’s problems with the iPhone taxing capacity will soon become every carrier’s problem as demand for smartphones really takes off, he said.

“I hope policy makers understand the seriousness of it,” Levin said, adding that it can’t be fixed over night, since it takes six to 13 years to clear spectrum. Any long-term plan needs to start now, Levin said. Levin’s broadband task force is crafting policy recommendations due to Congress in mid-February, including provisions for spectrum reform.

A former Wall Street analyst and now the man charged with bringing broadband connections to all Americans, Levin has admitted that current levels of federal and private investment combined are not enough to reach congressional goals. The FCC said that providing basic broadband connections to the three million to six million households without broadband in America could cost upwards of $20 billion. For those areas where faster service is needed, including about 10 million Americans, it could cost nearly $35 million.

On most topics, including the actual definition of broadband and the future applications for it, Levin was comfortable leaving it up for discussion. He said that while it’s important to have goals, because he can’t manage what he can’t measure, the real goal is not static. He is focused on driving that constant feedback loop that drives the broadband ecosystem to become healthier and drive America’s economic success.

“It’s a complicated thing that often goes very simplistic,” Levin said, referencing a chart a telco once presented him with confusing deregulation with an increase in cap ex. “We have to connect every American,” he said. “That is a serious problem. There are other issues, and I think it’s important we don’t get into the habit of thinking one size fits all.”