Podesta Group

One of my many humorous memories as a Capitol Hill intern is my abject failures with the fax machine. Then, it was a state-of-the art machine: a whirling little cylinder loaded with expensive silver-toned paper that was a devil to operate and equally difficult to decipher when the written product emerged. I bid that machine a fond farewell.

Today, we're a society on the go. We want our information and entertainment to be available at the touch of a finger. (Oh, and make that all free, if you please.)

As a result, the airwaves — know in the trade as spectrum — are getting crowded. At least, that's the current policy concern. In response to the problem, first came the National Broadband Plan from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Their answer was simple: reclaim a lot of spectrum, from users such as television broadcasters, and auction it to the wireless industry. Next, there were public safety advocates who also wanted more spectrum and the revenues to build a dedicated communications network from the aforementioned auction proceeds. How the public safety plan would work, if approved, is highly complicated in and of itself.

Now, don't forget the need for deficit reduction. The recently-formed Super Committee put spectrum issues front and center of their debate. But with all these complex and competing objectives, much like my experience as an intern, we have, in a word, a muddle. And the Podesta Group has been in the thick of it every step of the way.

The process has been so rushed that policymakers really have not had time to examine the basic assumptions on which the whole debate is predicated. For example, is giving wireless carriers more spectrum the only, or even the best, way to fix the problem of dropped phone calls and slow Internet connections? A discussion of the role of technological efficiency gains hasn't even been part of the debate. Likewise, neither has the role of unutilized or underutilized spectrum already owned by the wireless industry. And, who says only the wireless industry can innovate? Broadcasters and others can be part of the solution if only Congress and the FCC don't declare the answer without first asking the question.

Conventional wisdom has it that spectrum auctions are part of the Super Committee's ultimate plan — case closed. But upon closer examination, the answer is a lot less clear. And maybe that's a good thing, because public safety and spectrum policy deserve a thoughtful discussion. With an acute understanding of the varied complexities of this debate and the political sophistication to ensure our clients’ agendas don’t go by the way of the fax machine, the Podesta Group will remain one step ahead of it.