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The 21st Century: The Age of Wireless

  • Expectation of constant and ubiquitous connectivity and access to help (E911)

  • Exponential growth in use of devices that use radio signals -- including cell phones, pagers, even watches that synchronize to WWVB!

  • In this wireless age, the ability to innovate or even to engage in many businesses depends on access to the abstract "turf" known as spectrum

  • Many argue that the current auction/exclusive licensing regime has created artificial scarcity and barriers to entry, thus hindering progress and preventing competition and innovation
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  • As large corporations aggregate spectrum and attempt to foreclose competition via pre-emptive bids and abuse of auction policies, small operators such as LARIAT.NET are literally in danger of becoming "spectrum sharecroppers" -- or "spectrum serfs" -- if they are able to survive at all once Part 15 unlicensed spectrum becomes too crowded for reliable broadband delivery

  • What is the best policy, as dictated by the laws of physics and actual experience?