A group of technology companies including Apple, Samsung, and Nokia has sent a letter to Congress requesting that it make further spectrum available for mobile data. According to The Hill, the letter argues that "authorizing new spectrum auctions is timely and relevant" given current debates over the upcoming "fiscal cliff." The group has called on Congress to auction further airwaves that coud be used for mobile data.

"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."

Other signatories include Intel, RIM, Qualcomm, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, and Ericsson, all of which are members of the High Tech Spectrum Coalition. The group believes that upcoming spectrum auctions won't meet the demand for wireless broadband, nor will it be possible to "engineer our way out of this problem" with more efficient technology.

The letter urges Congress to impel spectrum holders to "become more efficient, to share with one another, to vacate, or to lease their spectrum." A report from earlier this year came to similar conclusions and recommended the government share a block of spectrum with commercial partners, noting that it's "increasingly difficult to find desirable spectrum that can be vacated by federal users."