CTIA: President Should Stay Focused on Spectrum

CTIA: The Wireless Association said it was pleased the president had acknowledged the rise of mobile device use in his memo directing government agencies to make information more accessible to those devices, but it used the opportunity to call on the government to free up more bandwidth to handle all that information.

"CTIA and the wireless industry are pleased to see the president recognizes that more Americans continue to rely on their mobile devices for anytime and anywhere access, including the Internet," said CTIA president Steve Largent in a statement. "At the same time, we hope the president and his administration remain focused on getting more spectrum for the U.S. wireless industry so our members may handle the significant data usage of Americans now and in the future."

A centerpiece of that spectrum reclamation effort is FCC reverse incentive auctions to compensate broadcasters for giving up bandwidth.

The president wants government agencies to use digital technology to build a straight-line info highway to supplant the current "labyrinth of information across different Government programs."

The White House chief information officer on Wednesday released a game plan, a labyrinth of information across different government programs," that gives departments and agencies a year to implement better digital services, including mobile and Web-based technologies, and ones that secure that information and protect its privacy."

By August, those departments and agencies must also have set up a web site at a labyrinth of information across different government programs to publicly report on their progress.

An FCC spokesperson was checking on whether the president's memo applies to the commission, though it could be expected to honor the spirit of the directive, as it did with the president's memorandum on regulatory review.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.