A report issued Jan. 7 by the FCC’s Office of Engineering & Technology (OET) Laboratory shows the number of wireless transmitters authorized by the agency last year grew to 12,000 — a near fourfold increase from the total 10 years ago.
The two-page document, the first in a series due from the OET, also found a 700 percent increase in the number of devices with three or more transmitters from a couple of years ago. That translates into more than 50 percent of devices having three or more transmitters, up from 7 percent in 2008.
Growth in wireless use by consumers throughout the United States is a key factor propelling the commission’s National Broadband Plan. As part of that spectrum agenda, the commission is seeking to recoup a wide swatch of spectrum used by television broadcasters for auction to wireless service providers.
