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White House to Bolster U.S. Internet by Doubling Broadband Spectrum

by Terrence O'Brien on June 28, 2010 at 01:35 PM

obama with ethernetThe Obama administration is making a major push to improve the state of broadband in the U.S., and to make large swaths of the wireless spectrum available for mobile data services. A full 500 Mhz of spectrum (nearly double what is available now) is expected to be freed up over the next ten years and be auctioned off primarily to broadband companies.

The effort should create jobs, in both building and maintaining the networks, and, through the sale of the spectrum, generate significant revenue for the government, as well. Much of the cash will be used to fund the creation of a nationwide mobile emergency network for first responders and other safety personnel. White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers told Reuters the plan will generate "hundreds of thousands of jobs," and "catalyze private sector investment." With mobile broadband usage expected to increase by 2,000-percent over the next five years, opening up the airwaves to more data services is essential to preserving American technology and business leadership. Besides, if the state of cellular networks gets any worse, companies like AT&T might have full-fledged riots on their hands. [From: Reuters]

Tags: BarackObama, broadband, government, infrastructure, MobileBroadband, obama, ObamaAdministration, politics, top, WhiteHouse

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