the Digital Town Hall

Few people are aware that the future of communications in our country rests on seemingly arcane decisions on how we open up radio airwaves. Significant chunks of this public "spectrum" remain vacant or underutilized – even though they have the capacity to deliver high-speed Internet signals almost anywhere in the country – especially into rural or poor regions where people need it most.

Often it’s left up to regulators in Washington -- lawyers politicians and engineers ensconced within the Federal Communications Commission and congressional subcommittees -- to decide how valuable swaths of our air are to be auctioned off and doled out. Often times they don’t make the right decisions – and don’t take the public’s pulse before ruling -- and as a result new innovations are shut down, and the status quo maintained.

If used right, spectrum could revolutionize the ways we connect to one another -- and to laptops, cell phones, PDAs, music players and other mobile Internet devices. It can also deliver a wireless Internet into your house without the need for a telephone wire or cable modem.

Some available spectrum sends high-speed Internet signals through concrete buildings and over mountains; and can connect tens of million of Americans that are now ignored by wire-line Internet providers such as the incumbent phone and cable companies that serve more than 99% of home broadband customers in America..

Phone and cable lobbyists have been pressuring the FCC to hand over our airwaves to their bosses at AT&T, Verizon and Comcast. Their plan is to horde spectrum and stifle any competitive or cheaper alternatives to their incumbent networks.

This would be a disaster. After years of phone and cable company control over its Internet marketplace, the United States has fallen to 22nd in the world in high-speed Internet rankings, with few choices and some of the highest prices for the slowest speeds in the world. We will continue to fall as long as we let phone and cable execs dictate Internet access for most American users.

We don't want more of the same. These airwaves should be employed for the public good, to spark innovation and open up closed markets. They should be used to develop wireless alternatives to Internet access as usual.

Consumer and public interest groups have urged Washington to ensure that new spectrum is opened up and offered to new market players on a nondiscriminatory basis.

With open networks, the rest of the world has rapidly adopted high-speed, Internet platforms for education, economic innovation, creativity and civic participation. Countries like South Korea, Japan, France and Canada have leapfrogged the United States and now offer faster Internet connections at far lower prices.

It's time we opened up our spectrum and caught up.