Back in the [ Rosey
] good old days, one could find a frequency, and apply for a license, and if you demonstrated that you were going to serve the public, you usually got it. It *could* be challenged, but the license grant was based on public service. Ahhhhh..... fast forward: Now, the frequency would be put up for AUCTION. And GUESS WHO HAS THE MONEY
The big chains. So, "your" frequency would be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Serving the public? What's that? That went out with the rule modifications.
And that spectrum is not even the government's to auction. The only money the government could
legitimately claim, is what it would take to recover the costs of licensing, administration and rules enforcement, as provided under the Communications Act. The jillions of dollars that go to the US treasury from spectrum auctions is in reality a
hidden federal tax. Telecommunications expenses pervade the entire economy much in the same manner as energy costs. A few examples include the costs of radio and TV advertising, satellite communications, landline communications (remember, landline systems are tied together via microwave and satellite links), mobile telephone service, as well as wired and wireless internet. The exorbitant sums of money those big chains and other communications providers pay for the spectrum they are awarded doesn't just come out of thin air. The auction winners pass the cost on to their customers in the form of price rises for their goods and services. Those surcharges keep getting passed along, until they ultimately trickle down to the individual "consumer" - you and me, in the form of higher prices for everything we purchase, regardless of whether or not we personally use wireless telecommunications services.
