There's a big FCC auction starting today for some frequency spectrum currently assigned to the military and law enforcement agencies which isn't being utilized. The auction is expected to bring in the neighborhood of $15 to $20 billion.

Cable, satellite, and cell phone companies will be scrambling to grab up the frequencies, which could significantly expand wireless broadband capabilities.

There are already cell-phone modem services, but they are not as fast as wi-fi type broadband service. Newer wireless broadband services are available, but are currently limited to major metropolitan areas. Both types are relatively expensive.

These new frequencies could, in a couple of years, not only widen the availability of wireless broadband for business users, but also offer new broadband hope for rural communities and others out in the sticks with nothing but aging copper wire and dial-up modems.

Rural Broadband is, or at least should be, this generation's Rural Electrification.