WASHINGTON — The debt-ceiling battle could produce an unlikely winner: smartphone users.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s current plan would direct the Federal Communications Commission to auction off highly valuable radio spectrum to wireless carriers desperate for more airwaves. Companies such as AT&T and T-Mobile USA say they need more capacity to keep up as their customers increasingly use iPhones, tablets and other portable devices to handle mobile applications, online video and other bandwidth-hungry services.
The plan could generate critical revenue for a government spending beyond its means.
Congressional budget officials estimate the auctions would raise $13.1 billion for deficit reduction.
Reid’s proposal also would deliver a big victory to safety officials: It would set aside airwaves and money for the construction of a U.S. wireless broadband network that would let police officers, firefighters and emergency medical workers communicate with one another across agencies and jurisdictions.
“Spectrum auctions are a win-win-win,” said Tim Doyle, a spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association.
But the proposal faces significant hurdles. For one thing, a competing debt-ceiling plan from House Speaker John Boehner contains nothing on wireless-spectrum auctions. And it has run into major opposition from television broadcasters, which are under pressure to give up spectrum that would be sold to wireless carriers.
