There were a lot of people working on it, but a couple of guys named Marconi and de Forest are credited with getting radio as we know it up and running. Radio would give way to TV, TV to the internet, the internet made accessible in 1999 by a spectrum of the radio broadcast band that came to be known as WiFi throughout the development of broadcast and later internet technology. The government had a curious role: it basically controlled the airwaves with an iron fist. Very tightly in the early days, when stations had to be licensed and licensing was strictly controlled. Once limited to no more than 7 radio or TV stations, the sky’s now the limit and some broadcast giants can own as many stations as they can afford regardless of how many they have in each market. Clear Channel for example, owner operator of KFBK AM and FM also owns another AM station and 3 other FM stations in Sacramento alone.
Now the government is proposing something even more radical: the FCC wants to develop a super strong national WiFi system - like current WiFi on steroids - that would be free for anyone to access. Sound like a good idea? Maybe. But the problem is, to accomplish this feat, the Obama administration will have to become the Robin Hood of communications; taking bandwidth from the rich - or at least those who own part of the spectrum like local TV stations - and give frequency to the less fortunate. Those of us who are paying Comcast or AT&T or Direct TV for our WiFi access, or going without it unless be can pirate it from a Starbucks or a neighbor with an unsecured WiFi access point. Now this is a pretty big deal for the industry, which has been profiting handily since Bill Clinton deregulated back in the 90’s. It’s now close to a 200 billion dollar cash cow, so you can imagine how intense the lobbying against this mega WiFi system will be. But on the other side are some pretty big dogs as well. Names like Google, Microsoft and Apple who say universal WiFi would help the poor and spark more innovation. Not to mention selling zillions of new phones and tablets with the possibility of free data and free calling without those pesky monthly plans from Verizon AT&T or Sprint. But with the government trillions in debt, some critics say Uncle Sam would be slaughtering a cash cow because he can not sell these swaths of broadband for billions. And what about the money spent by Verizon or AT&T to develop the broadband pipelines that allow us to transmit all that data at super high speed without interference. It’s all years away from happening, if it ever does, and could wind up like so many things the government tries to do with a big court challenge.
The betting here is that universal WiFi won’t happen, that the current system will expand a bit and become less expensive for consumers but never free. And as usual the only real winners will be the lawyers on each side who always seem to get rich no matter who wins.
