“It’s very obvious that we are pushing the limits of the amount of capacity we have,” Jacobs said, adding that network neutrality regulations should not restrict operators’ ability to manage their networks.

“Operators should have the ability to say: ‘let’s be fair, this person’s moved a lot of data, this person’s used a little’, if they’re paying the same amount, then the person who’s used less will get more access….We are on the side of, yes, you have to be able to do something to manage your network, but it’s not the right thing to go in and say one service or another is OK.”

In other words, Qualcomm (QCOM) favors usage-based throttling. In theory, this should ensure that all customers get their fair share of bandwidth every hour of the day. In practice, however, it has meant something else entirely. So the question remains: If data traffic is to be shaped (and I am not saying that it should be), who will determine how it will be shaped and, more importantly, who can be trusted to make that determination fairly?

Jacobs’s remarks come a day after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski reiterated the Obama administration’s call for network neutrality.

According to the CTIA, there are more than 246 million wireless data-capable devices at large in the U.S. today. Of these, 40 million are smart phones or PDAs, and more than 10 million are laptops. Little wonder that wireless data service revenue rose 31 percent to more than $19.4 billion in the first six months of 2009.

Revenue will no doubt continue that trend in the months ahead as wireless devices become more ubiquitous. Wireless carriers, then, would be wise to put some of their windfall toward building out their networks to cope with future demand lest they end up the butt of a joke in a rival’s advertisement.

Consider these remarks from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, spoken Wednesday at the CTIA wireless industry convention in San Diego: “We are fast entering a world where mass-market mobile devices consume thousands of megabytes each month. So we must ask: what happens when every mobile user has an iPhone, a Palm Pre, a BlackBerry Tour, or whatever the next device is? What happens when we quadruple the number of subscribers with mobile broadband on their laptops or netbooks? The short answer: We will need a lot more spectrum. The biggest threat to the future of mobile in America is the looming spectrum crisis.”

It’s going to be a rough couple of months for the wireless industry.

As expected, the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved a broad inquiry into the wireless market. In a unanimous vote, the agency’s five commissioners–three Democrats and two Republicans–approved two so-called notices of inquiry, one that will examine competition and innovation and another that will evaluate truth-in-billing practices.

“I can’t think of a more important moment to be considering these issues,” FCC chairman Julius Genachowski told a hearing in Washington. “Many Americans are learning to do more with less. A surprise charge on a monthly bill, or a new service that does not perform as advertised, can be a major budget-buster, especially as household spending on communications grows ever larger. This FCC will have a relentless focus on innovation and investment, on competition and consumers.”

Genachowski added that these inquiries could lay the groundwork for the examination of other industries such as cable and Internet. “I hope the new wireless competition report will help set a standard for fact-based, analytically deep analysis of the mobile industry,” he said. “It is essential that the commission develop policies that encourage a new generation of innovators, working with new tools, on new platforms, and having an extraordinary impact on our economy and society.”

The wireless industry’s trade group, CTIA, welcomed the inquiry through gritted teeth, saying it “appreciates the opportunity to respond” to the FCC’s questions. “The wireless ecosystem–from carriers to handset manufacturers to network providers to operating-system providers to application developers–is evolving before our eyes and this is not the same market that it was even three years ago,” said president and chief executive Steve Largent. “In this industry, innovation is everywhere.”

Among the issues to be discussed: The state of competition in the wireless market, carrier handset vendor-exclusivity deals like those between Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T), fee-setting and “truth in billing.”

Also likely topics of discussion: Apple’s recent rejection of Google Voice from its App Store and why Google (GOOG) doesn’t support a full version of Skype for its Android mobile OS.

It’s not clear what will come of the meeting, though given the Obama administration’s intention to ratchet up scrutiny of antitrust issues, it’s likely that the inquiries proposed will be approved by FCC commissioners.

The wireless industry is already gritting its teeth in preparation. “We’re excited and we look forward to responding to the commission’s round of inquiries,” said Christopher Gutman-McCabe, vice president of regulatory affairs for CTIA, the wireless industry’s trade association. “We’re looking forward to educating not just the Commission but other policy makers about the evolution of the industry and the innovation that’s occurring, not just by carriers but across the ecosystem.”

During his keynote address at the CTIA Wireless trade show in Las Vegas, Yahoo mobile chief Marco Boerries uncrated OneSearch 2.0, which offers voice-enabled search, predictive text completion and contextual recommendations. Can Yahoo differentiate itself in mobile search by offering handful of enhancements that essentially duplicate services already offered by Microsoft, Apple and Google? Yahoo certainly thinks so. “With the launch of Yahoo OneSearch in 2007, we revolutionized mobile search by re-creating search specifically for the mobile phone,” Boerries said. “With Yahoo OneSearch 2.0, we are fundamentally changing the way consumers use the Internet on their mobile phones.”

Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s claim that Safari is responsible for 71% of mobile browser usage apparently echoed throughout Microsoft HQ like a hearty Nelson Mundt “Hah Hah!” since Microsoft (MSFT) has developed a more robust version of Internet Explorer Mobile with which to challenge it. At the CTIA conference in Las Vegas this morning, the company announced Windows Mobile 6.1 and along with it a new desktop-grade version of IE Mobile. With support for Adobe Flash and Silverlight, the browser should help Microsoft better compete with the full Web-browsing experience provided by Mobile Safari. Expect it at market in the third quarter of 2008.