Chris Sacca on freeing the airwaves

What I don't grasp, is how it would be possible to avoid the free spectrum being abused in a tragedy of the commons scenario?

Being able to send e-mail around the world for free was great... until spammers made it less great by abusing the system.

This is a tough problem, because there are so many issues that need to be considered when deciding whether or not to give out free spectrum. The most important, in my estimation, is whether the revenue lost from license fees would be offset by taxes gained on the new economic activity generated by the entrepreneurial use of said spectrum. I would need a good deal of data in order to make this call.

Although it is true that the US has the 2nd highest corporate tax rate in the developed world at around 35%, we actually collect very little revenue from it. The reason being that the high tax rate encourages some tax sheltering activity and other bad behavior that, in the end, costs us revenue. So even if the new economic activity is generated, we have strong historical evidence that new tax revenue from that activity would be somewhat less than forthcoming.

Why do we need the revenue? A large national debt. Additionally, it seems, that this debt will only get larger over the next 10 years whoever wins the election. About 3 or 4 trillion in growth under Obama, and between 4 and 5 trillion in growth under McCain.

On the other hand, perhaps the new economic activity would generate a sizable windfall. Even accounting for the inevitable tax sheltering that corporations will engage in.

I think we need some REALLY expensive data to make this call.

In short, my choice would be driven by a desire to keep our national checkbook balanced. Or more precisely, to use the spectrum to generate revenues that may begin the process of bringing our national checkbook back into balance. I realize I am very much in the minority here, that said, I think it's a useful way to look at the issue.

Having an alternate point of view like Sacca is needed in this ecosystem. The company that I work for is in the process of developing a global mobile capability/division and surprisingly (or unsurprisingly if you understand the marketing communications industry), none of the mobile/wireless vendors I met with discussed the spectrum debate here in the states.

There's a disconnect between policy and actuality within the US mobile space today. It's unfortunate our infrastructure and thinking isn't along the lines of Japan's or at least in the immediate hope of getting there.

Sanjit Biswas (Meraki founder) is also interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wikV9IAyzSA&feature=user