CNN has an interesting video and article on the spectrum crisis called "The Nasty Traffic Jam of Wireless Data." While they point out some good statistics, their reporting shows a true lack of understanding about the nature of wireless spectrum, as well as new technologies that are available to solve this problem.

On the plus side they point out that mobile data traffic has grown 159% from 2010 to 2011. The story seems to imply that video traffic is driving this bandwidth surge. While video is a partial driver, there are more recent studies that point out that social networks, such as Facebook, are really what is driving the bandwidth usage over wireless networks. However the facts remain that data usage over mobile networks is in fact exploding.

The story starts to lose some credibility when it makes the claim that only a very small fraction of wireless spectrum is available and useful for what they call “video.” In fact, they point out that basically the 700 MHz band is the only thing that is “viable for sending video wirelessly.” Whether it be e-mails, video, VoIP or any other sort of wireless data, this just simply is not accurate.

There are many bands that are highly usable for mobile data video and other broadband type of applications. In fact, carriers already use a mix of 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1.8 GHz spectrum, and only recently have started applying the 700 MHz spectrum with their LTE systems. New bands in the 2.7 GHz range are also being utilized for 4G mobile system quite successfully.

Perhaps most alarmingly, the story tries to claim that we are running out of spectrum and that it is up to us, the consumer, to think about how we use the spectrum so that we don't end up using it all up. Not only is this impractical, it is just simply not true.

As was mentioned in our recent blog post, new technologies such as xG’s cognitive radio system offer a solution to the mobile spectrum crisis. Our approach allows carriers to pack far more data into existing spectrum as well as making more spectrum viable to use to deliver additional capacity. This newfound capacity will support the video and broadband applications that the CNN story highlights.

Our interference mitigation technology allows more users to be more closely packed together, which drastically alleviates the need for new spectrum. Our dynamic spectrum access capabilities also allow new spectrum to be brought into play. This spectrum is just as suitable, if not more suitable, for delivering wireless broadband applications as some of the spectrum currently used by commercial carriers.

In general, the commentators in this story are promoting a very traditional and somewhat dated view of spectrum as a finite resource. As new technologies come online, such as xG’s cognitive radio systems, we will continue to see how the existing wireless spectrum can hold far more capacity than what was thought possible just a few years ago. These new technologies will continue to bring out new ideas and new approaches, so that just like in the past 20 years, we will again see additional capacity being delivered using existing spectrum.

Moreover, these technologies can also provide new spectrum for use by carriers and other wireless operators. What was once considered “junk spectrum” can now be used to deliver reliable and robust communications links.

By looking at past history, and considering the new technologies that are bursting onto the wireless space, it is clear that this view of spectrum being a finite resource is just not factual. As we continue to expand the use of wireless in our society and economy, we will continue to discover ways to increase capacity, as well as find ways to make it more affordable and more economical to use in our daily lives.

Rick Rotondo
VP of Marketing
xG Technology, Inc.