Just how dire is the looming spectrum shortage for mobile broadband devices such as smart phones and laptops? Interviewed this weekend on C-SPAN, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski described the situation this way: while the agency has taken steps to free up three times the amount of wireless airwaves now available, it needs thirty times the current level to avert a crisis. The commission is rushing to identify more frequencies before it presents a national broadband plan to Congress in February that is expected to call for extensive deployment of wireless high-speed Internet technology. "The challenge is that when you look at the demand charts that predict mobile broadband usage based on smart phones and mobile Internet, it's a thirty-time increase in capacity that we can expect in the years ahead," he said during an interview on the Communicators series. "There are no easy pickings on the spectrum chart and hard choices to make," he said, adding that the agency also will encourage more spectrum efficiency.