Apple Inc. (AAPL), Nokia Corporation (NOK) Ask Congress for ‘New Spectrum’

It’s obvious that investors in tech giants like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK), or Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) are wary of the fiscal cliff, but it was the companies’ turns to do the talking earlier this week.

Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NOK), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)

As originally reported by The Hill, “[a] coalition of technology companies sent a letter to key lawmakers on Tuesday, calling for Congress to provide more airwaves for smartphones and tablet computers.” The document, which sought to inform Washington that freeing up spectrum would aid the handheld device industry, mentioned that companies “cannot simply engineer [their] way out of this problem.”

In addition to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Nokia and Intel, the letter was also signed by other players in the smartphone and tablet space, including Samsung, Research in Motion, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson and Qualcomm. Here’s a key excerpt (via The Hill):

“”Now is the time to ensure the incentive auctions are as robust and successful as possible at liberating spectrum. We should also turn our collective attention on ways to reap the economic benefits of underutilized federal spectrum assets.”

On the subject of the “fiscal cliff,” Apple and the other companies mentioned that “authorizing new spectrum auctions is timely and relevant” to Washington’s negotiations. This news comes on the heels of the FCCs efforts to “auction some TV stations’ airwaves […] to cellular carriers.”

The reason that this topic is important to investors in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and the other companies mentioned above, is because a spectrum boost, quite simply, could provide a moderate boon to the smartphone and tablet industries. It is possible that these gains would have a positive effect on 4G LTE coverage, the ability to combine Wi-Fi and LTE signals together, and more. Let us know your thoughts on the letter in the comments section below.