Twenty-three senators urged federal spectrum policymakers to quickly...
Twenty-three senators urged federal spectrum policymakers to quickly transition federal users off the 1755-1780 MHz band by September 2014 and pair the band for auction with the 2155-2180 MHz band, in a letter made public Friday. “We write today to…
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urge you to take advantage of an opportunity to increase the value of this spectrum band at auction while also harmonizing United States spectrum policy internationally,” the letter said. Pairing the bands would “yield substantially greater auction revenues than if those bands were auctioned separately. It would also bring our national spectrum policy in line with the 17 of the G-20 countries who already have allocated these two paired bands for commercial use. Pairing these bands is good for our spectrum policy and for first responders,” it said. “Time is of the essence, and a sense of urgency is required if we are to capitalize on this opportunity to maximize revenue,” the senators wrote. The letter was sent to the departments of Defense and Commerce and the FCC and was signed by every member of the Senate Commerce Committee and several members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The senators asked Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn to provide regular updates on the status of each agency’s efforts to achieve such a goal. Responses to each agency’s efforts to resolve outstanding issues were requested by Sept. 1.