While the Asian and Japanese are delaying the initial launch of 3G services, in an effort to get advance applications over advanced mobile phones, the U.S. is embroiled in a battle over the basic allocation of airwaves that will offer consumers high-speed wireless access to the Internet and multimedia services.

For U.S. carriers to offer 3G services they need more spectrum. Their counterparts in Europe and Asia either have purchased airwaves through government-controlled auctions or have been granted the necessary spectrum by their respective governments.

What is at the heart of the debate is whether the FCC should reallocate scare public spectrum, taking it out the hands of the radio stations, the broadcasters, the military or the schools and putting it on the auction block for wireless carriers.

The New York Times reported the FCC chairman Michael Powell as saying that the FCC "finds itself between a rock and a hard place" in trying to satisfy Congress’ desire for spectrum auctions and the wireless industry’s need for spectrum and at the same time respecting existing spectrum users, such as the military.

Almost everyone in the industry and in Washington has an opinion on the issue.

Early in April, when the FCC issued reports that basically said that the 3G spectrum bands are over crowded with existing users and it would be prohibitively expensive to move those licensees to other bands. This was followed by Powell’s remark to industry players that they should get more out of the spectrum that exists. "Spectrum will always have a scare dimension, and there should always be an effort to get better use out of existing spectrum," he stressed.

But CTIA president Tom Wheeler was quick to dispute the advice. In his view the United States already has 530,000 mobile customers per 1 MHz of spectrum. This is far more than Germany with 200,000, Japan with nearly 120,000, and the U.K. with just over 80,000 per 1MHz of spectrum.

Shortly after FCC’s reports were announced, Verizon Wireless filed an emergency petition requesting the FCC hold off on additional educational licenses in the coveted spectrums. Their argument was that it would be more difficult to move these licensees to alternative airwaves thereafter. To which the FCC denied the wireless operator a stay.

According to The Washington Post, some lobbyist and observers believe that the logjam could be broken if the Pentagon was granted the option of selling the spectrum rather than surrendering it for free to the FCC. This way the defense department might be able to raise the cash to develop a new aircraft or destroyer. But even these observers know that what sounds like a win-win, it is politically implausible.

The battle continues, so stay tune.