The “lack of spectrum probably constitutes the greatest threat to...

There really is no unoccupied spectrum, or “marketing incentives for entities to allocate their spectrum,” he said. The National Broadband Plan’s recommendation for spectrum incentive auctions is aimed at “putting spectrum back in the marketplace,” he said. “If auction proceeds could be shared, the broadband ecosystem would have more spectrum, the entity could perform the same function better and taxpayers could benefit as well.” Levin also discussed the need for Universal Service Fund reform and said “today’s USF creates very significant problems.” He challenged those who have argued that the recommended speeds aren’t sufficient: “What’s not legitimate is to pretend that there are no costs to increasing the speed.” If anyone wants everyone in the country to support higher speeds for people in certain parts of the country, “they should be upfront … about the speeds they want, about their costs and about how they propose to pay for it,” he said. Although the FCC in September released a chart showing that about 70 percent of the country will some day have only one provider capable of delivering 50 Mbps downstream, it is no grounds for an unbundling regime, he said. The chart “is correct in terms of what we know today.” But “it may be wrong five years from now,” due to developments and upgrades from telcos, he said. “The argument for unbundling is premised on a projection that is subject to way too many variables and a policy with a potentially significant downside,” he said.