Wireless executives demand more spectrum

Liberating more spectrum for mobile broadband use is key to enabling the next generation of connected technologies, wireless executives said during an International CES panel discussion in Las Vegas. Carriers have complained for years about the looming spectrum crunch that they will face as users increasingly access large data applications and video content over their mobile devices.

Wireless users in the U.S. could gain new blocks of unlicensed wireless spectrum as several high-profile auctions are completed over the next 18 months, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday. Major wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth currently operate in such spaces — blocks of the radio spectrum that are open to use by any technology and do not require formal FCC licensing — but some of those spaces are now crowded with signals.