FCC Auction Seeding Even More Competition

The FCC wireless broadband auction has concluded the largest and most successful auction of spectrum in U.S. history.

Why is this relevant to net neutrality? Proponents of NN argue that a broadband duopoly exists, stubbornly refusing to acknowlege that wireless broadband is a real competitor to DSL and cable modem. (They sound a lot like the same luddites who argued over the last ten years that cell phones would not be direct competitors to landlines. ...Have those folks noticed the precipitous decline in the availability of pay phones because 210 million americans have cell phones? Or did they know the fact that there are now more wireless users than wireline users and more wireless minutes than wireline minutes?)

Wireless broadband competition is real; it is the fastest growing broadband option as I have blogged earlier, 35% of new broadband adds in 2H05 were wireless broadband not DSL or Cable modems.

Back to this auction. The biggest bidder was T-Mobile the foreign player in the market owned by Deutsch Telecom. They greatly strengthed their competitive position and ability to offer more wireless broadband. They are completely unaffiliated with either the Bells or Cable.

Markets work.