The Effects of Mobile Technology

In today’s digital landscape, the transformation to a world of wireless Internet access has shifted our mobile phones into virtual pocket computers. The Wireless Communications Association International (WCAI) has stated that smartphone users consume 30 times the data of a “traditional” handheld device, and AT&T alone reports that it is rolling out 2,000 additional cell towers in 2009 in response to a 5,000 percent growth in data usage over the last three years, largely due to the considerable popularity of Apple’s iPhone (Newman). As technological improvement has made these smartphones progressively more affordable, the explosive demand for wireless innovation is testing the limits of a fundamental resource: the telecommunications spectrum. The spectrum is regarded as the “oxygen of the wireless world,” fueling every aspect of our mobile broadband ecosystem. And as more and more consumers use their wireless devices to watch videos, exchange pictures, listen to songs, and download the latest applications, the airwaves are growing increasingly choked and over-crowded. As data use continues to skyrocket with the adoption of mobile smartphones, the question becomes: how will the federal government, in cooperation with the FCC, strategically mediate spectrum space in the face of data influx among competing mobile carriers? Extending the reach and performance of broadband will prove to a very delicate issue as the Commission works feverishly to keep up with the higher speeds that these mobile applications will continue to require in the near future. This urgency stems from a logistical constraint. While the electromagnetic spectrum encompasses everything from microwaves to visible light to cosmic rays, only a fraction of it is suitable for telecommunications usage. This slim percentage is then split up further, with portions of the resource dedicated to activities ranging from government and military functions, to television broadcasts and consumer mobile