Yesterday President Obama proposed investing $5 billion in a fund that would ensure broadband Internet access is available across rural America. "This isn't just about a faster Internet or being able to find a friend on Facebook. It's about connecting every corner of America to the digital age," Obama told an audience at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. Obama also announced a proposal that will be included in his 2012 fiscal budget that would invest $10.7 billion in developing a wireless network to support public safety agencies, Jeff Mason of Reuters reports.
The Obama administration "has endorsed making 500 megahertz of wireless airwaves, or spectrum, available over the next decade to meet the growing demand for broadband services," Mason reports. "The Federal Communications Commission hopes to 'repurpose' 120 megahertz of spectrum through incentive auctions where television broadcasters would voluntarily give up spectrum in exchange for a portion of the auction proceeds." Obama noted, "By selling private companies the rights to these airwaves, we won't just encourage private investment and expand wireless access; we'll actually going to bring in revenues that lower our deficits." (Read more)
"A plan such as this necessarily requires a lot of assumptions," Matt Wood, associate director of the Media Access Project, a nonprofit advocacy group, told Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times. "It is very hard to predict exactly how much money these auctions would raise, and how much will have to be shared with incumbent licensees. Thus, while these initiatives may be on the right track, questions remain as to whether this plan will work." Obama chose to make his announcement in Marquette, population about 21,000, because NMU "has worked on ways to expand wireless access for students and the surrounding areas," Stolberg writes. "For more than a decade, the university has given a new laptop to every incoming student." (Read more)
You can read more coverage of Obama's appearance in Marquette from The Mining Journal.
The Obama administration "has endorsed making 500 megahertz of wireless airwaves, or spectrum, available over the next decade to meet the growing demand for broadband services," Mason reports. "The Federal Communications Commission hopes to 'repurpose' 120 megahertz of spectrum through incentive auctions where television broadcasters would voluntarily give up spectrum in exchange for a portion of the auction proceeds." Obama noted, "By selling private companies the rights to these airwaves, we won't just encourage private investment and expand wireless access; we'll actually going to bring in revenues that lower our deficits." (Read more)
"A plan such as this necessarily requires a lot of assumptions," Matt Wood, associate director of the Media Access Project, a nonprofit advocacy group, told Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times. "It is very hard to predict exactly how much money these auctions would raise, and how much will have to be shared with incumbent licensees. Thus, while these initiatives may be on the right track, questions remain as to whether this plan will work." Obama chose to make his announcement in Marquette, population about 21,000, because NMU "has worked on ways to expand wireless access for students and the surrounding areas," Stolberg writes. "For more than a decade, the university has given a new laptop to every incoming student." (Read more)
You can read more coverage of Obama's appearance in Marquette from The Mining Journal.
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