Heading Into CTIA Conference, Industry Pushing To Refill Spectrum Pipeline

“As we have said through the summer, a spectrum pipeline is necessary to unleash the next wave of wireless innovation and economic growth, and for the U.S. to remain the global wireless leader as we move toward 5G,” said Jot Carpenter, CTIA vice president-government affairs. “If Congress is ready to take up legislation to achieve those objectives, we stand ready to help.”

The Competitive Carriers Association also is “laser focused” on getting more spectrum for its members, said CCA President Steve Berry. “Spectrum, mobile broadband, and wireless infrastructure” are issues highlighted by the Senate and House Commerce committees for further work this year, Berry said. “CCA encourages continued focus on policies that increase mobile broadband availability and enhance competition in the industry.”

Spectrum legislation historically has been bipartisan and the success of the AWS-3 auction has “whetted the appetite” for additional auctions, said McDowell, who has numerous wireless clients at Wiley Rein. “The time to do this is now, not a presidential election year where there are even fewer legislative days,” he said. “The need for this, hopefully, is obvious.”

The House Commerce Committee is expected to hold a hearing on the spectrum pipeline in September, similar to the House hearing in July, industry lobbyists said. Likely sponsors in the Senate include John Thune, R-S.D., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., chairman and ranking member of the Commerce Committee, lobbyists said. Several members in the House, including Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., are seen as likely sponsors of a spectrum bill, lobbyists said. Various Hill offices declined to comment.

With few legislative days left this year, Congress’ focus is likely to be on the budget, McDowell said. “Committees are rewarded … by leadership if they find money for the Treasury that does not involve tax increases,” he said. “Federal spectrum auctions could generate billions and billions of dollars in the coming years.” McDowell said the legislation should be as specific as possible, citing bands for auction, saying he wouldn't presume to tell Congress what bands it should target.

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., warned low-power TV broadcasters and translators last month that “powerful” forces are seeking their spectrum and will exert intense lobbying power in Washington to acquire it (see 1508140060). “The federal government not only regulates and manages spectrum, which is what fuels wireless technology, but it is also a major owner of underutilized public airwaves,” said a Senate Commerce Committee report last month.

McDowell said as a commissioner he supported sharing, for example in the 5 GHz band and the TV white spaces. “But there is no substitute for exclusive use licenses,” he said. The legislation has to be detailed “in part because there has been a reluctance by agencies over the years to relinquish their spectrum,” he said. “If we keep it vague and not have deadlines and identify specific spectrum, then it could languish and never happen.” The AWS-3 auction of mid-band spectrum “revolutionized the whole concept” of what spectrum is considered “beach front” spectrum, he said: That's true “especially for crowded urban and suburban areas where having to place your antennas closer together is less of an issue.” Those are the areas most in need of spectrum, McDowell said.

Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Project at New America's Open Technology Institute, disagreed sharply with McDowell’s comments. “The worst possible thing for good telecom policy would be to tie legislation on future spectrum auctions to the budget process,” Calabrese said. “The lure of one-time auction revenue too often obscures more balanced policy options that would be better for American consumers, the economy overall and even for long-term federal tax revenues.” Rules for the 3.5 GHz band, adopted by the FCC in April, are “a great example of a very spectrum efficient and forward-looking policy that would have been thwarted if Congress had stomped in with a mandate to relocate Navy radar and simply auction the band for short-term revenue purposes,” Calabrese said.

“Hundreds of megahertz of spectrum can be freed up by updating federal systems and packing them into smaller allocations,” said Richard Bennett, network engineer and visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “This was what we had hoped the PCAST spectrum report would recommend, but it got mired in politics and failed to deliver a realistic strategy for spectrum. McDowell is on the right track.” PCAST is the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

All carriers must have “meaningful opportunities to gain access to spectrum, including through use of sufficiently small geographic license sizes and requiring spectrum interoperability,” CCA’s Berry said Wednesday. “We support Congressional efforts to enact policies that provide competitive carries with certainty, while streamlining burdensome procedures and creating innovative solutions to access finite spectrum resources. Such policies will encourage investment and expansion in mobile broadband infrastructure while fostering continued innovation and economic growth.”