White Space In Contrast - It’s A No Brainer
The white space debate, for all its technical complexity, is otherwise
very simple to judge. So many frequencies remain unused or
dramatically underutilized – either in space, or in time, or both. A
cognitive radio should therefore be able to fill in these blanks with
useful stuff, such as Internet access akin to WiFi, WiMax, HSPA, EV-DO
and LTE.
Most of these frequencies are between 150 and 850 MHz. This makes
them particularly complementary to most of the cellular frequencies,
who start at 850 MHz in the US (soon 700 MHz) and at 450 MHz in some
other European countries (although mostly 900 MHz). Most other
cellular frequencies reside between 1700 and 2200 MHz, while WiFi and
most mobile WiMax launches are between 2300 and 2700 MHz.
These lower frequencies are used for things such as old-fashioned
broadcast television and military applications. Some of those
military applications have limited geographic scope, and many of the
allocated television channels are also not used in most areas. Those
are cases where this spectrum ought to be privatized outright, under
any circumstance. At a minimum, this spectrum can be repurposed for
as long as no interference is proven. Basically, there is no downside
to trying. In this respect, the advocates of white space use
legalization are 100% correct.
However, the white space argument is even stronger and ought to be
taken at least one full step further. Over 90% of American households
have cable TV, satellite TV, or some other form of non-terrestrial
broadcast TV such as wired TV from a telco (Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-Verse
etc.). This percentage has also been increasing. With only a few
remaining households taking up this valuable real estate in the air,
it’s beginning to look like the “bridge to nowhere.” Basically, we
are foregoing an untold billion dollars (perhaps trillions) in
consumer welfare just so that a tiny single-digit percentage of
households can get to watch a handful of channels without paying for
TV from cable/satellite/telco. This is a shameful exploitation of
government property, at a huge expense.
The solution is of course very simple: The government a long time ago
should have told the TV broadcasters that the game is up. No more any
free ride. No more exploitation at the public trough. This is
valuable real estate, which, just like almost all government property,
should be sold to the highest bidders as soon as possible. Just this
February, the sale of a few tiny thin slices of the 700 MHz spectrum
fetched $20 billion. Imagine what the spectrum all the way down to
below 200 MHz would fetch?
This idea isn’t new; I have been proposing it for years. The rebuttal
has always been that this is somehow politically impossible. I have
never understood this argument, because we talking about less than 10%
of households who are exploiting the other 90%+. Any politician worth
his salt ought to be able to explain that the only thing standing in
the way of vastly more available, capable and lower-priced wireless
broadband are a bunch of people who refuse to get
cable/satellite/telco TV, just like the rest of us.
Some say those 10% are unusually poor, and need access to free TV. To
this I say: If they are that poor, they are probably watching too much
TV, and working too few hours. Daytime TV is also a bad influence,
culturally. Besides, those same people who insist on watching free
TV, are also the same people who smoke and drink for a lot more money
than it would cost them to pay for the same kind of
cable/satellite/telco TV subscription that the rest of us do. People
shouldn’t have to run around and pay for each other’s entertainment
habits. What’s next – government-subsidized movie tickets, opera
passes or ballpark games? Wait – don’t give the new Congress any
ideas…