Wireless technology is everywhere these days, especially in the African American community. Most African Americans (56 percent) own smartphones and that rises to a remarkable 85 percent for those aged 18-29. And African American women are much more likely to own smartphones than their white counterparts.
It's not difficult to see why our community embraces wireless. The mobile Internet meets the community's unique economic and social needs. It's affordable and with the continuing development of wireless apps in education, healthcare and other areas, it is helping empower millions.
In rural communities, where hospitals and specialized education may not be easily accessible, wireless' growth is an especially important development. The Internet provides students with the opportunity to learn about a wide variety of subjects from any location. Wireless healthcare technology provides patients with cost-effective services that help them manage their health and improve communication with their doctors.
This growing list of benefits is why everyone should be concerned about a proposal under consideration at the Federal Communications Commission. The issue involves next year's scheduled auction of wireless spectrum. This spectrum is necessary to accommodate the growing millions of Americans using airwaves to stream, download, and other activities that require sending and receiving a lot of data.
The FCC is considering rules that would block certain companies from bidding on much of these airwaves. In addition to unfairly disadvantaging millions of those companies' consumers, this would tilt the marketplace in favor of companies that the FCC favors.
So far, the concern about these proposed rules has been significant. Last month, 78 Democratic Members of Congress joined in an open letter to the FCC to encourage a more fair and reasonable approach. These Members promoted the concept of "an open and fair auction on equal terms" as the best way to promote world class, high-speed mobile broadband.
Other prominent voices have also raised concerns over the effect of these misguided proposed rules. Dr. Anna-Maria Kovacs recently released a study concluding that "[b]y limiting the additional low-band spectrum that can be bought by... national carriers who actually serve rural America in the hope that the other... national carriers will enter those markets, the FCC is more likely to harm than help rural consumers, who need all the bandwidth their serving carriers can supply."
The overriding importance of this issue is that everyone deserves the same choice and opportunity, regardless of where they live. Those in rural communities often have different needs from those in other areas. But regardless, everyone is best served by the competitive policies that have created so much wireless advancement and choice. Restricting spectrum auctions shuts down that progress and will inevitably produce less advancement and fewer choices.
The FCC should encourage the widest possible competition in next year's spectrum auction and let all competitors bid on the spectrum necessary to give Americans 21st century high-speed mobile broadband.
It's not difficult to see why our community embraces wireless. The mobile Internet meets the community's unique economic and social needs. It's affordable and with the continuing development of wireless apps in education, healthcare and other areas, it is helping empower millions.
In rural communities, where hospitals and specialized education may not be easily accessible, wireless' growth is an especially important development. The Internet provides students with the opportunity to learn about a wide variety of subjects from any location. Wireless healthcare technology provides patients with cost-effective services that help them manage their health and improve communication with their doctors.
This growing list of benefits is why everyone should be concerned about a proposal under consideration at the Federal Communications Commission. The issue involves next year's scheduled auction of wireless spectrum. This spectrum is necessary to accommodate the growing millions of Americans using airwaves to stream, download, and other activities that require sending and receiving a lot of data.
The FCC is considering rules that would block certain companies from bidding on much of these airwaves. In addition to unfairly disadvantaging millions of those companies' consumers, this would tilt the marketplace in favor of companies that the FCC favors.
So far, the concern about these proposed rules has been significant. Last month, 78 Democratic Members of Congress joined in an open letter to the FCC to encourage a more fair and reasonable approach. These Members promoted the concept of "an open and fair auction on equal terms" as the best way to promote world class, high-speed mobile broadband.
Other prominent voices have also raised concerns over the effect of these misguided proposed rules. Dr. Anna-Maria Kovacs recently released a study concluding that "[b]y limiting the additional low-band spectrum that can be bought by... national carriers who actually serve rural America in the hope that the other... national carriers will enter those markets, the FCC is more likely to harm than help rural consumers, who need all the bandwidth their serving carriers can supply."
The overriding importance of this issue is that everyone deserves the same choice and opportunity, regardless of where they live. Those in rural communities often have different needs from those in other areas. But regardless, everyone is best served by the competitive policies that have created so much wireless advancement and choice. Restricting spectrum auctions shuts down that progress and will inevitably produce less advancement and fewer choices.
The FCC should encourage the widest possible competition in next year's spectrum auction and let all competitors bid on the spectrum necessary to give Americans 21st century high-speed mobile broadband.