With mobile networks expected to handle 35 times as much Internet traffic over the next five years as they do now, the Federal Communications Commission worries that the nation's wireless system will bog down under the strain, and has proposed a plan to repurpose spectrum now reserved for television channels. But the broadcasters - still smarting over having to surrender spectrum two years ago for digital television - say they need those airwaves to compete with their flashy new rivals with products such as live mobile TV.
In all, the FCC is proposing a voluntary auction of about 120 megahertz of additional television spectrum - but it would take at least a year for the agency to get permission from Congress and cooperation from hundreds of stations around the country. Much of that spectrum, between channels 31 and 51, isn't being used, but some broadcasters fear existing programming on those channels could be moved to less attractive swaths of airwaves.
Telecom and high-tech companies support the FCC's plan, which would be the federal government's fourth major rollout of airwaves for cellphone use. Most recently, it sold $20 billion of spectrum in 2008 for high-speed Internet networks that are just now being rolled out by Verizon Wireless and other carriers. But the demand is expected to strip even that supply.
Each mobile Internet user is expected to use four times as much data by 2015. A streaming video gobbles up about 100 times as much bandwidth as a phone call - and new technologies are coming fast.
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