Today, Fox Nation featured the headline: “Addict: Obama Wants to Spend $10 Billion on Wireless Internet.”
The only problem is that the Reuters article to which Fox Nation links does not support that sentiment. Rather, it describes Obama's plan “to expand high speed wireless Internet service to 98 percent of Americans while reducing the U.S. deficit by $9.6 billion over the next 10 years.”
Where will this money come from? The government reportedly expects to raise $27.8 billion over the next 10 years “through incentive auctions where television broadcasters would voluntarily give up spectrum in exchange for a portion of the auction proceeds.” Some of the spectrum will also come from government, according to Obama's proposal.
Of that $27.8 billion, $10.7 billion would be invested in the wireless Internet expansion for public safety agencies and $9.6 billion would go toward deficit reduction. Another portion would be invested in wireless R&D.
The White House's website has posted Obama's plan, which lays out the specifics of how the $10.7 billion to support the development of a public safety broadband network will be allocated and how Obama plans to reduce the deficit:
Develop and Deploy A Nationwide, Interoperable Wireless Network For Public Safety. The 9/11 Commission noted that our homeland security is vulnerable, in part, due to the lack of interoperable wireless communication among first responders. The rollout of 4G high speed wireless services provides a unique opportunity to deploy such a system in conjunction with the commercial infrastructure already being developed and deployed. To seize that opportunity, President Obama is calling for an investment of $10.7 billion to ensure that our public safety benefits from these new technologies: $3.2 billion to reallocate the “D Block” (which is a band of spectrum that would be reserved and prioritized for public safety and not auctioned as called for under existing law); $7 billion to support the deployment of this network; and $500 million from the WIN Fund for R&D and technological development to tailor the network to meet public safety requirements. This investment, in coordination with the investment in rural buildout, will ensure that the rollout of 4G in rural areas serves the needs of public safety and the broader community.
Cut the deficit by $9.6 billion over the next decade. The President's proposals to auction off spectrum freed up from the government and voluntarily relinquished by current commercial users, is estimated to raise $27.8 billion. This total is above-and-beyond the auction proceeds that are used to provide an incentive for private and government users as well as the auction proceeds that are expected even absent the President's proposal. After the cost of the investments proposed by the President, the initiative would reduce the deficit by $9.6 billion over the next decade.