Obama: U.S. must provide Americans with tools of digital age

In a speech outlining his new initiative to expand wireless access and innovation, President Obama Thursday compared the effort aimed at connecting 98 percent of Americans to "next-generation, high-speed" wireless to past infrastructure projects such as building railroads and highways that also were aimed at advancing the nation's economy.

"This isn't just about a faster Internet or being able to find a friend on Facebook," Obama said during a speech at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mich. "It's about connecting every corner of America to the digital age."

His initiative calls for generating funds from the auction of spectrum that would be provided by federal government users and through a proposal that would encourage broadcasters to give up some of their spectrum in exchange for a share of the proceeds from the auction of those airwaves. Some of this funding would go to help build a national interoperable broadband network for public safety and to help provide wireless broadband in rural areas. The plan also contemplates that $9.6 billion would be left over for deficit reduction.

"Now, access to high-speed internet by itself won't make a business more successful, or a student smarter, or a citizen more informed. That takes hard work. It takes those late nights. It takes that quintessentially American drive to be the best," Obama said. "But we have always believed that we have a responsibility to guarantee all our people every tool necessary for them to meet their full potential."

Some wireless operators such as T-Mobile and Sprint oppose reallocating the D-block, and instead would like to see that spectrum auctioned for commercial use and use the proceeds to help build the public safety network as the Federal Communications Commission proposed in its national broadband plan.

A coalition of these firms known as Connect Public Safety Now said Thursday that while it supports the president's goals, the FCC plan "is the only way to assure the build out of a nationwide network for first responders in all regions of the country, create jobs, investment and the federal revenue we so critically need. "

AT&T and Verizon, the nation's biggest wireless providers, however, support reallocating the D-block to public safety. In a statement, AT&T Chief Technology Officer John Donovan praised the "administration's commitment to provide public safety with the resources it needs while at the same time taking necessary steps to meet the needs of broadband providers is a tremendous step forward for this country."

Information Technology Industry Council President and CEO Dean Garfield called for bipartisan support of the president's wireless initiative.

"For the first time since the late 1990s, Congress and the administration have a genuine opportunity to advance a common sense initiative that aligns with the nation's political and economic interests," he said in a statement. "What will ultimately matter is the ability to work together and achieve our shared vision for the future of the Internet."