A group of 100 companies, associations and nonprofits urged unlicensed...
A group of 100 companies, associations and nonprofits urged unlicensed use of spectrum be made available from voluntary incentive auctions. The House-Senate conference working on the payroll tax extension is considering using the auctions to pay for its bill due…
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at the end of the month. “As Congress considers [spectrum] legislation, it must ensure the [FCC] maintains its flexibility as an expert independent agency to make more spectrum available for a diversity of uses and users,” the group said. “It is particularly critical that some of the ‘beachfront’ spectrum located in the television bands remain available for unlicensed services, which are driving innovation, promoting rural broadband deployment, and creating new services in the wireless ecosystem.” The letter’s more-than-100 signers included Google, NCTA, Broadcom, Public Knowledge and the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. In a separate letter to conferees Monday, Public Knowledge, Media Access Project, New America Foundation and 15 other public interest groups railed against restrictions on unlicensed and other areas under considerations. “The provisions that restrict the application of pro-consumer and pro-competition conditions on spectrum auctions would be a massive step backwards in the evolution of our Nation’s wireless policy,” they said. Besides the unlicensed issue, the groups objected to language in the House bill scaling back the FCC’s net neutrality powers and preventing the FCC from using spectrum screens.