Doug Smith replied:
Don't really see much demand for spectrum for data on shortwave.
(VHF & especially microwave are a different story!) It's not easy to
reliably transfer significant amounts of data over shortwave; SW
transmission will be very much a last resort.

This is pure speculation on my part, but I can foresee a time when the
VHF/UHF bands become so clogged with highspeed data that less glamorous
operations such as regional/citywide paging, low-rate text messaging,
product ID tagging, water meter transponders, etc., go looking for the
lower frequencies. Without broadcast QRM, a relatively modest paging
transmitter on, say, 6.1 mHz could blanket a 10 mile radius 24 hours with
little of the line-of-sight problems of VHF.

I could even see a point where the FCC concludes a segment could
be opened for "amateur broadcasting", where "pirates" could operate
legally as long as they keep their power down to a reasonable level.

This would be great, then I could ignore all of them in one spin of the
dial.

Al Q.
NY