Friend of the wireless industry Julius Genachowski (News - Alert) today gave one of the opening keynotes at CTIA in Orlando, Fla. Noting his use of a tablet instead of a teleprompter, the FCC (News - Alert) chairman reiterated the Obama administration’s support for the wireless revolution.

“We expect wireless providers will be active participants in the Connect America Fund,” he added.

Spectrum (News - Alert) is at the top of his agenda, he said. That’s because the wireless industry is spurring innovation, allowing more people to get connected, creating new jobs and contributing to the GDP. No sector holds more opportunity to positively impact our quality of life and economy than mobile broadband, he added.

“It’s hard to imagine an industry that’s produced more game changers than the wireless industry,” he said.

But he also talked about how too many Americans can’t get or don’t subscribe to broadband. The adoption of broadband in the U.S., he said, is just 67 percent. And he said that if America doesn’t continue to move forward on broadband, others elsewhere in the world will capture those opportunities.

To help the U.S. remain the leader in mobile broadband, Genachowski said, the FCC has put forward a comprehensive mobile broadband agenda that offers fair rules of the road for mobile Internet, suggests rules be put in place to allow for a transparent marketplace, aims to remove barriers to 4G deployment and expects to unleash a treasure trove of new spectrum for 4G. If the FCC works to remove red tape from the process of building new wireless networks, he said, it could help unleash $11.5 billion in new investment in these networks and related gear.

He noted the FCC’s big white space spectrum effort; its desire to reallocate 500mHz of spectrum for broadband, which is about double the amount that is currently available; its move to open 25 mHz of spectrum in the wireless communications service bands; and its push for dynamic spectrum sharing, femtocells and the like.

He also mentioned that the FCC is asking Congress to allow for voluntary incentive auctions, which would enable the commission to auction spectrum – which current license holders could contribute in return for a cut of the auction proceeds – for wireless broadband services.