The seen and the unseen; it is impossible to ever really know the costs imposed by self-interested stuffed-shirt crusaders -- where would we have been if the state didn't crush innovation at every turn?
We Could Have Had Cell Phones 40 Years Earlier
When AT&T wanted to start developing cellular in 1947, the FCC rejected the idea, believing that spectrum could be best used by other services that were not "in the nature of convenience or luxury." This view – that this would be a niche service for a tiny user base – persisted well into the 1980s.
"Land mobile," the generic category that covered cellular, was far down on the FCC's list of priorities. In 1949, it was assigned just 4.7 percent of the spectrum in the relevant range. Broadcast TV was allotted 59.2 percent, and government uses got one-quarter.
TV was allocated far more bandwidth than it ever used, blocking mobile wireless for more than a generation.
Television broadcasting had become the FCC's mission, and land mobile was a lark. Yet Americans could have enjoyed all the broadcasts they would watch in, say, 1960 and had cellular phone service too. Instead, TV was allocated far more bandwidth than it ever used, with enormous deserts of vacant television assignments – a vast wasteland, if you will – blocking mobile wireless for more than a generation.
