The first day of Spring (in the northern hemisphere) also marked the conclusion of the FCC airwaves auction. The immanent switch to digital television (from analog) will free up a whole slew of bandwidth, opening up some prime frequencies for development, use and profit. Potentially HUGE profits, measured in billions. 

AT&T and Verizon were the big winners, spending more than $16 billion to acquire bandwidth in the plumpest markets. And while they only snapped up 30% of all of the licenses, their money accounted for 97% of the successful bids, proving once again that the big bucks can always simply push the little guys out. In an interview with BusinessWeek , FCC chairman Kevin Martin noted that out of more than 1,000 licenses that were up for grabs, 754 went to small, local operators. And while that means that the giant conglomerates still have a monopoly on a national level, Martin also pointed out that local service providers got what they wanted, too.

What does this mean for me and you? Well, for one, expect to see completely new products and services on a national level. Think cellular Internet, but much, much broader. GPS mapping with live traffic updates, new digital audio and video services and, oh yea, advertisements, I'm sure! But that's probably thinking small. And while local companies will certainly come out with their own services, it seems likely that they will get swallowed up by the big boys in short order, just like local ISPs evaporated in the 1990s.