Spectrum Fees May Preclude US Low-Cost Cellular

theodp writes "Not to apologize for an industry that charges $27,000 to catch a Chicago Bears game, but will the huge spectrum fees charged by the government block the emergence of low-cost cellular service? In the most recent FCC spectrum auction, carriers paid nearly $20 billion to grab a swath of the 700MHz spectrum. And now under President Obama's proposed budget, wireless carriers would be hit with huge annual fees — eventually reaching $550 million per carrier per year — for the right to hold a spectrum license. Critics say the carriers will simply pass these fees through to consumers."

Comments

Re:Stimulate economy?

[SkyDude]

I'm not sure I see how government fees hurt the economy. The government seems to spend all of its receipts on goods and services such as the stimulus plan so this would seem to help the economy.

Apparently, you've never:

1) Formed and operated a business

2) Made a payroll for five or more employees

3) Had to deal with IRS or other government bureaucrats.

Unless you can answer "I have" to two or more of these, you are not qualified to make such a statement. You can offer it as an opinion, but try working in the real world and see if you still believe what you have written.