FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai will call for FCC action to...

a good job of identifying the looming spectrum crunch and developing a strategy for addressing it,” as well as setting goals, such as making 500 MHz available by 2020, Pai said. “Unfortunately, we are not on track to meet these goals,” he said. “The National Broadband Plan forecast that the FCC would be able to dedicate to mobile broadband spectrum bands comprising 180 MHz by the end of 2011. It is now the middle of 2012, and still none of the identified bands can be utilized effectively for mobile broadband. We must act quickly to turn this situation around.” Pai said the FCC could start by addressing the reallocation of 40 MHz of spectrum in the AWS-4 or 2 GHz band. “In baseball, it is often said that the first run of the game is the most difficult one for a team to score,” Pai said. “Similarly, if we are able to complete work for the first time on a band identified in the National Broadband Plan and put 40 MHz of spectrum up on the scoreboard, it could set the stage for future spectrum successes.” Pai also plans to tell the committee the FCC needs to speed up its work in general. “I have been struck by how many parties have complained to me that the Commission has unreasonably delayed taking action in a particular proceeding -- for months, for a year, or even for the better part of a decade,” he said. “We must act with the same alacrity as the industry we regulate.”