Spectrum

Just what I have been saying all along.

Spectrum fragmentation means pricier mobile handsets, customer lock-in by carrier, and reduce the ability for global roaming.

This is mostly a USA/Canada problem only, since the rest of the world do not auction spectrum to specific networks.

As I wrote before, the USA/Canada mobile market is ruled by corporate interests. One of the myths is that there is a shortage of "spectrum". This gave way to auctions for spectrum. In turn this means that different companies make handsets that run on different frequencies, and the balkanization of the market, or prices going up as phones become multifrequency.

Now, Citigroup questions if US spectrum shortage is real.

Hope Canada listens too.

As the CBC is reporting, Mobilicity, a relative newcomer to the mobile market, is decrying the government auctioning off Long Term Evolution (LTE) "spectrum" to the bigger players (Rogers, Bell, and Telus).

This is the continuation of the industry lobbying for more balkanization.

This is misinformation, fearmongering and industry lobbying at its worst.

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) is alleging that carriers need more radio waves, because consumers are using more bandwidth and have more connected devices than ever before.