In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission or FCC has the responsibility of allocating discrete portions of the spectrum, or bands, to various industries.
The FCC did this recently, when it shifted the location of television broadcasting on the spectrum in order to open up more space for mobile data.
[1] Bands that are particularly fast or that have long range are of critical importance for companies that intend to operate a business involving wireless communications.
While this method raises billions of dollars for the government, there is concern that smaller companies may be priced out of the market and therefore rendered unable to compete with large firms.
This would reduce the number of points of view in the communications industry, which would violate one of the principles of the FCC, to protect the public interest.
[10] Therefore, there have been many independent warnings of a looming "RF spectrum crisis"[11] as the mobile data demands continue to increase while the network spectral efficiency saturates despite newly introduced standards and great technological advancements in the field.
The radio frequency spectrum is a limited natural resource which is increasingly in demand from a large and growing number of services such as fixed, mobile, broadcasting, amateur, space research, emergency telecommunications, meteorology, global positioning systems, environmental monitoring and communication services – that ensure safety of life on land, at sea and in the skies.
Data usage over wireless networks is rapidly increasing as more consumers surf the web, check email, and watch video on mobile devices.
In the United States, according to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, "The explosive growth in mobile communications is outpacing our ability to keep up.
[17] Alternatively, the User-in-the-loop paradigm mitigates the data crunch by shaping the demand side by involving all the users, which makes expensive over-provisioning obsolete.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that is responsible for allocating portions of the wireless spectrum for broadband, public safety, and the media.
[18] This non-government controlled allocation of communications became the unprecedented issue of discussion during the Egyptian social protests on January 25, 2011.
[19] At first, the Egyptian government blocked the internet data usage for smart phones and black-berrys, and social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube as well.
OSM manages and works together with the sub-office, Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) to execute various operations for Federal Government use.
Additionally, the OSM together with the IRAC provides the technical engineering expertise needed to perform specific spectrum resources assessment and automated computer capabilities needed to carry out these investigations; participate in all aspects of the Federal Government's communications related emergency readiness activities; and participate in Federal Government telecommunication automated information systems security activities.
The United States and the President has additionally and personally established the position for spectrum management policies for Federal and non-Federal usage.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) continues annual regulation of spectrum bandwidth, specifically Federal usage.