Juan Garofalo wrote:
>> The Citizens of the United States "own" the spectrum, and the cell 
>> companies paid money in an auction to have the privilege of using that 
>> portion of the spectrum.
> 
> 
>         Really ? What if you bother to really think about it ? 

You assume I haven't?

>         The companiy is forced to pay the government the price of a
> 'license'. And then the company charges its customers to recoup that
> expense. So, the money that the government collects ***comes from the
> citizens***

The ones using the service that ended up on those frequencies, perhaps 
-- but not all citizens.  There are plenty of people that don't have, 
want, or need cellular phones here.

The company charges a lot more than they paid to the government for the 
frequency use to their subscribers for access to the overall cellular 
service.  It's a business.  They're attempting to make a profit, and one 
of their fixed costs is the cost of "leasing" the spectrum from the 
government.  Similar to the rent they pay for tower space from land 
owners, or the power bill they pay every month to the electric company.

>         It's utterly absurd that, if the citizens own the spectrum as yuo
> say, they must pay for using it (as they actually do).

I didn't say it was a good system.  I was just explaining that the FCC 
doesn't OWN anything.  They're the government appointed regulators of 
spectrum use here in the United States.

Auctioning off spectrum is one of the "businesses" I don't think the FCC 
should have ever gone into, but they're doing it.  They should have 
remained impartial regulators, and money shouldn't be the object of 
their focus when allocating spectrum, but ... the winds of political 
change have made that role for the FCC a long-distant past.

The "leased" spectrum only applies to cellular, and perhaps in some 
ways, Broadcast.  Some RF-based services pay little to nothing for their 
spectrum use, other than licensing fees to cover the costs of operating 
the central clearinghouse of licenses.

And again the FCC only handles public spectrum use.  Government spectrum 
is handled completely differently.  The FAA doesn't lease or pay for the 
spectrum they use to handle Aviation safety and navigation services, for 
example.

>         The spectrum is effectyvely owned by the govt. and the 'citizens'
> are TAXED for the 'privilege' of using it. 

No, taxes are lower because the company paid up-front for the frequency 
use, and the users of the spectrum pay more than enough to cover their 
cellular company's expenses for spectrum use.

The cellular companies spend far more money on their network hardware, 
real estate/land use, and other expenses, than they do on spectrum use 
fees.  Their customers pay back all of this, plus more, for the service 
of having a cellular phone that works in whatever coverage areas the 
cellular company chooses to service.

>         Sorry I shattered your rosy colored glasses.

Not really -- I have no idea what you think the issue is at hand, nor do 
I care in the slightest.

Nate
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