In a desperate moment before finals, a worried college student pulling an all-nighter grabs his laptop, anxious to tap into the vast world of knowledge that a wireless connection to the Internet provides.
But he can't connect. His wireless Palm Pilot won't work either. Desperate, he grabs an old-fashioned cordless phone, hoping to call a friend who can answer his questions.
Again he's stymied. The phone, like all the other wireless gadgets that are supposed to make it easy to get information, is overwhelmed by the transmissions of thousands of other students in a half-mile radius. Every one of them has a wireless gizmo of some kind and the atmosphere has run out of elbow room.
Welcome air clutter. It could be the future.
The air, or more specifically the license to transmit through it, has become one of the world's most valuable commodities. Around the globe, the richest companies are spending billions on licenses for the right to use a variety of wavelengths, also known as spectrum.
"Spectrum is a finite and valuable national resource," Thomas J. Sugrue, chief of the Federal Communications Commission's wireless bureau, told a Senate committee recently. "Today we simply do not have enough spectrum to give everyone all that they want. Our biggest job as spectrum managers is to find ways to avoid a spectrum drought."
That won't be easy. The market is already crammed with wireless phones, computer modems, toys, speakers, cameras, and even see-in-the-dark ski goggles that rely on a homing radio beam. Public demand, here and abroad, is running high for wireless technology, particularly as consumers and providers try to integrate the Internet with cell phones. In Hong Kong, for example, one of the hobbies of housewives is trading shares online via mobile phones.
The demand for spectrum has caught governments and business by surprise. At one time, experts predicted that only a million people would be using cell phones by 1999. By 2000, there were more than 80 million wireless phone subscribers in the United States alone, and each passing day brings another 42,000 customers.
This has created a gold rush - or more appropriately, an air rush - by companies trying to stake out their piece of the sky for new services. And it is a gold mine for governments. The FCC, which regulates the airwaves in the United States, raised more than $519 million last week from the sale of a small chunk of the 700 MHz band, described by wireless bureau boss Sugrue as "the beachfront property" of the new millenium.
