Obama signed a presidential memorandum that would make 500 megahertz of federal government and commercial wireless spectrum available for commercial use over the next 10 years, the White House said.

"This effort will nearly double the amount of commercial spectrum currently available for everything from smartphones to wireless broadband connectivity for laptops to new forms of 'machine-to-machine' communication," it said.

The move sets the stage for a potential clash with broadcast television stations which currently own the rights to some of the wireless spectrum which is to be auctioned off.

The White House said the auction could potentially raise "tens of billions of dollars" which would be invested in "public safety, additional job-creating infrastructure investments and deficit reduction."

"The president's plan will nearly double the amount of commercial spectrum available to unleash the innovative potential of wireless broadband," said Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council.

"This initiative will catalyze private sector investment, contribute to economic growth, and help to create hundreds of thousands of jobs," Summers said in remarks released by the White House.

The White House said the amount of information flowing over some wireless networks has grown by more than 250 percent per year through increased use of smartphones, netbooks -- small mini-laptops -- and other wireless devices.

"As the revolution in mobile broadband and related technologies unfolds, the demand for spectrum will continue to increase -- leading to increasing fears of a 'spectrum crunch,'" it said.

"As consumers use wireless-enabled devices to access video and other high-bandwidth content, the demand for data over wireless networks is expected to grow exponentially," the White House added.

The presidential memorandum calls for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Federal Communications Commission to identify and plan for the release of 500 MHz of spectrum over the next 10 years.

The majority of the spectrum would be auctioned off for voice, data, and video applications through licensed mobile broadband.

Some would be made available for free for unlicensed use by technology startups and small businesses and some would be used for a public safety network.

Obama has pledged to put broadband in every American home and the FCC is pushing ahead with a National Broadband Plan, an ambitious effort to bring high-speed Internet to the entire United States.

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