Portrait: Mario Hugo
In the face of terrorism, global warming, and economic stagnation, spectrum policy may not seem like a top presidential priority. But it ought to be. Ram Shriram, a venture capitalist who helped fund Google a decade ago, says wireless carriers are hamstringing the mobile industry. He advocates opening the airwaves — and even mounted an (unsuccessful) bid on a chunk of radio spectrum in January. What's at stake? "The greatest wave of innovation since the PC-platform era."
Wired: Why should the president care about spectrum?
Shriram: New mobile apps could improve and maybe even save lives. But the big wireless carriers have built walled gardens around their businesses. I'm worried that the next little garage startup won't have access to consumers because it has to pay one of these closed telco networks to get its application deployed. If America wants to lead the world, it needs to make sure new ideas can get to market. More opportunity will birth more companies that create more jobs.
Wired: Some say that radio spectrum could be for the 21st century what oil was for the 20th. Is that a reasonable analogy?
Shriram: In terms of importance, yes. Of course, spectrum is a renewable resource. But it's not infinite; it needs to be allocated smartly so you're not overskewing it toward military or commercial or incumbent carriers. Other countries have certainly woken up to this, especially Finland and Sweden.
Wired: Why have they moved so much quicker than we have?
Shriram: It's a cultural issue. Also, we grew up tethered to an Ethernet connection, while much of the rest of the world used SMS.
Wired: So they leapfrogged us.
Shriram: Yeah, but we haven't lost this race. We have a critical mass of about 300 million users. We have so much sophistication in terms of software development. We can still win here — and win big.
Wired: But Verizon and AT&T recently acquired a huge chunk of the remaining prime spectrum. Is there really anything left?
Shriram: There are still some pieces that aren't being used, like the white-space bands between TV channels. With digital broadcasting, those buffers aren't needed anymore. The wireless telcos want to lease them, while the TV industry wants to maintain the status quo. Either decision would be a mistake.
| Crowded Spectrum
| As the graph to the right shows, bandwidth has been strictly allocated for specific uses—leaving little room for innovation.
Mobile data services
Aeronautical radio navigation
Mobile satellite
Aeronautical telemetry
TV broadcasting
Other (radio location, meteorology aids, etc.)
Ram Shriram is a venture capitalist and founder of Sherpalo.
Related The 2008 Smart List: 15 People the Next President Should Listen To
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- Carolyn Porco: Use Big Robots — and Big Rockets
- Leroy Hood: Look to the Genome to Rebuild Health Care
- Montgomery McFate: Use Anthropology in Military Planning
- Peter Gleick: Deal With the Water Crisis Now
- Jagdish Bhagwati: Keep Free Trade Free
- Ellen Miller: Make Washington More Like the Web
- Ram Shriram: Open Up the Airwaves
- A.T. Ball: Wage Smarter War With Agile Army IT
- Steve Rayner: Take Climate Change Seriously
- Mitchell Joachim: Redesign Cities From Scratch
- Mark Smolinski: Detect Epidemics Before They Start
- Charles Ferguson: Beware of New, Easy-to-Make Nukes
- Robert Dalrymple: Get Ready for Extreme Weather FAQ: Inside the High-Stakes 700-MHz Spectrum Auction
