From Third Class Citizen to First among Equals: Rethinking the Place of Unlicensed Spectrum in the Fcc Hierarchy

The last ten years has seen an explosion in uses of wireless technologies. This, in turn, has driven a demand for "more" spectrum to support these uses. A recent spectrum license auction by the Federal Communications Commission ("Commission" or "FCC"), which regulates all civilian uses of wireless technologies in the United States, generated almost $14 billion.' The FCC's most recent report on the wireless industry found that all uses of licensed wireless services, from mobile telephone use to fixed wireless data services, continued to grow at an astounding rate.2 At the same time, a multibillion dollar industry has grown in the use of "unlicensed" spectrum. 3 Part 15 of the Commission's rules permits manufacture of wireless devices for any use at very low powers on designated