Can WiFi For All Save the US Economy?

President Obama has twice proposed that expanding wireless access for almost all Americans could lift the economy and create sustainable growth. And he is prepared to invest billions to do it. Can this work? Realistically, not by itself - the economy is global, after all, and far too complicated. The implementation will take years and there is no guarantee Congress will vote the funds. However, given the data the Administration has available and the options open to them to stimulate growth while creating jobs, they have picked this idea.

Kristina Chew explains why in Care2:

"Is wireless access for all Americans the key to economic recovery?
President Obama said as much on Thursday in pitching a plan for providing high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of Americans in five years, the February 10th New York Times reports.

The President plans to use $18 billion in federal funds to create this nationwide network. He will request a one-time investment of $5 billion from Congress to bring wireless coverage to the nation's rural areas, and also seeks to get a '$10.7 billion commitment' to support what is described as a '“nationwide wireless broadband network” for public safety.' In addition, $3 billion will be allocated to a government research program to develop methods for using 'mobile Internet access for emerging technologies and for health, education and energy applications.'

The Washington Post provides more details about how the administration hopes to execute this all-across America Internet plan:

To get there, the federal government will try to bring more radio waves into the hands of wireless carriers to bolster the nation's networks and prevent a jam of Internet traffic. He said he hoped to raise about $27.8 billion by auctioning airwaves now in the hands of television stations and government agencies.

And with that auction money, the government would fund new rural 4G wireless networks and a mobile communications system for fire, police and emergency responders. The remaining funds raised - about $10 billion - would go toward lowering the federal deficit over the next decade. The Congressional Budget Office has said the deficit will climb to $1.5 trillion this year.

First outlined in Obama's State of the Union speech, the plan is part of a push to reshape the nation's infrastructure of deteriorating roadways and manufacturing plants into one with high-speed railways and high-speed Internet networks that the president said are essential for the United States to compete in the global economy.

Experts have raised caveats about the President's plan, noting that it is both 'ambitious' and 'complicated,' the Washington Post says. The plan calls for television broadcasters to give up an asset they are something more than disinclined to part with, their share of the airwaves. Thus, there are no guarantees as to how much money these 'incentive auctions' might raise:

"We aren't against the plan but want to make sure this is truly voluntary, and we want to hold harmless those who don't want to participate," said Gordon Smith, president of the National Association of Broadcasters, a trade group.

The broadcasters are sitting on what is considered beachfront spectrum that is ideal for hosting powerful Internet connections from the flood of Droids, iPhones and Xoom tablets hitting the market.

As the Washington Post notes, the White House has said that 'the auction proceeds would mean that funds won't come out of taxpayer pockets.' But the question remains, how much the auction will provide at all---and without sufficient funds, how much of the President's plan be carried out?
The President described his plan in Marquette, a city of about 21 residents on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Marquette is home to Northern Michigan University, which has worked on expanding wireless coverage both on its campus and in the surrounding community, and which has for the past decade given each student a new laptop. In his speech, Obama noted that his new plan 'isn’t just about a faster Internet or being able to find a friend on Facebook.' It is rather about connecting Americans together and providing everyone with more opportunities for information and also for commerce. Said the President:

It’s about connecting every corner of America to the digital age. It’s about a rural community in Iowa or Alabama where farmers can monitor weather across the state and markets across the globe. It’s about an entrepreneur on Main Street with a great idea she hopes to sell to the big city. It’s about every young person who no longer has to leave his hometown to seek new opportunity — because opportunity is right there at his or her fingertips.

Will this projected new Internet infrastructure do for the US what the Interstate system of highways did for a previous generation?