Kerry-Snowe Bill Targets Federal, Commercial Spectrum
Senate spectrum legislation introduced Monday would authorize incentive auctions to pay federal and commercial users that voluntarily give up unused frequencies and would require a national spectrum plan. The Spectrum Measurement and Policy Reform Act, sponsored by Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., aims to update national spectrum planning, management and coordination activities. The legislation would give the the FCC and the NTIA $10 million over the next two fiscal years.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
The bill is separate from a spectrum inventory measure (S-649) by the same senators that got blocked by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a Senate staffer said. That’s because the Obama administration is moving ahead on the inventory without legislation (CD July 15 p11), the staffer said. The new bill would require agencies to measure how license holders are using spectrum and to identify for reallocation or sharing spectrum not being used efficiently, the official said.
The U.S. can “avert the looming spectrum crisis” by enacting the new bill, said Snowe. “This legislation will lay the groundwork to develop a strong and effective 21st century comprehensive spectrum policy that will provide consumers with additional choices, greater innovation, lower prices and more reliable services.” The legislation is “essential to expanding broadband Internet access while providing a platform where entrepreneurs can create new services and generate jobs,” said Kerry. “We can and should know how our spectrum is being used and do more to encourage more efficient and productive use."
The NTIA and the FCC would measure spectrum usage and occupancy rates under the legislation. The bill also would require more collaboration between the agencies on spectrum policy and management, spectrum sharing and reuse programs, and “market-based incentives to promote efficient spectrum use,” Snowe and Kerry said. The agencies would have to submit a National Strategic Spectrum Plan 18 months after enactment and every three years afterward. That plan would “provide a long-term vision for domestic spectrum use and strategies to meet those needs,” the senators said.
Federal bodies that voluntarily give up eligible spectrum for nonfederal use would get a monetary award “equal to a percentage of the proceeds from the auction of licensees covering such frequencies,” the bill said. That would be determined by the NTIA in consultation with the FCC. The money would come from the NTIA’s Spectrum Relocation and Efficiency Fund.
The bill also would allow the FCC to share auction revenue with commercial licensees that give up spectrum. It said: “If the Commission determines that it is consistent with the public interest in utilization of the spectrum for a licensee to relinquish some or all of its licensed spectrum usage rights in order to permit the assignment of new initial licenses or the location of spectrum for unlicensed use subject to new service rules, the proceeds from the use of a competitive bidding system … may be shared, in an amount or percentage determined in the discretion of the Commission, with any licensee who agreed to participate in relinquishing such auction usage rights."
The bill will help the U.S. maximize use of wireless innovations in health, energy and education, said CTIA Vice President Jot Carpenter. “Identifying where there are opportunities to reallocate spectrum or use existing allocations more efficiently will be important as we work toward the National Broadband Plan’s goal of making 500 MHz available over the next decade for commercial use.”