Walden Wants To 'Upgrade' Mobile Now Spectrum Bill

“We’re pleased with what they’ve been able to put together so far and I think it really could be a nice vehicle for us to, I suppose I can say, help upgrade, we’ll give it new tires and wheels and an engine and a transmission and a whatever and work together with them on it,” Walden said of the Mobile Now legislation (S-2555). “We’re now seeing some legislation come out of the Senate Commerce Committee, which we then hopefully can get to a conference with and give us a vehicle with where maybe we can do some of these things now. Some of them will require additional work and labor and frankly pressure on different interest groups to get them on board. Some of that’ll be a longer term process.”

The Senate Commerce Committee approved Mobile Now during a March 3 markup, adding a dozen amendments to a text that had been carefully negotiated with the Obama administration over the previous months (see 1603030061). Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., wrote Mobile Now and had secured the backing of ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., earlier this year. Walden told us in February he was eyeing Mobile Now as a “vehicle” if the House takes it up (see 1602250049).

S-2555 hasn't cleared the full Senate. Thune has said he believes it may be possible to hotline the bill soon, advancing it by unanimous consent. Some of its provisions -- such as sections involving a dig once infrastructure policy -- are similar to what House lawmakers already have produced. But others, such as language involving millimeter wave spectrum, have no House companion. Walden cited the dig once section as one he would love to advance this year. He co-sponsored House dig once legislation with Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., last year. The “transportation folks” don't see the proposal as something to be “wild about because it adds a little cost on their side,” Walden observed, saying the proposal would save costs for others: “Those are our challenges.”

Despite a “truncated” political calendar due to the elections, Walden sees prospects for advancing some version of Mobile Now. “Oh, I hope so, well, or by the end of the year,” he said. He lauded Thune and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., for their cooperation.

Walden discussed legislative ideas that would provide incentives for federal agencies to give up spectrum in addition to possible future legislation to free up spectrum. Mobile Now in draft form was more ambitious and included such provisions, lost after administration negotiations.

“We’re still trying to work through all of these,” Walden said of the Federal Spectrum Incentive Act and the need for federal agencies to buy into such incentive legislation for it to be effective. “And frankly a part of its investment in R&D, that’s what we’re beginning to hear.” Walden emphasized the importance of talking to a wide range of stakeholders before “launching” into legislation. Walden commended FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel for her digital divide term “the homework gap” and mentioned using it Wednesday in meetings with tribal leaders and with a county commissioner who had told Walden about “the McDonald’s problem” of students going to the fast food restaurant for its Wi-Fi access. “You’ve got to figure out how literally to get the fiber out there,” Walden said of the infrastructure challenges, stressing lawmakers’ desire to streamline federal siting. “The federal lands issue is a big one for us.”

“We’re continuing to work with the agencies and other parties to see what can be broken loose next,” Walden said. “These need to be ongoing efforts.” He said it's helpful that spectrum auction legislation can be used as a pay-for provision: “I would suggest our subcommittee has done more to reduce the debt through our legislation than probably any other subcommittee on Capitol Hill. We’re in the driver’s seat because spectrum is a good pay-for because there’s a market for us. That helps us. … We’re the locomotive that can pull a lot of other things across. We’re in a really good seat for us, because not all legislation has that. Very little legislation has that.”

Walden said he still wants to pursue a telecom act rewrite. Net neutrality “poisoned the well” for the Communications Act overhaul he was leading and then abandoned last year, he said. But the lawmakers are taking what they began doing and applying it in smaller ways. “We’ve kind of parceled some of it out,” he said. “We want to continue to work around the edges where we can and find common ground.”

He commended the FCC for its handling of the broadcast TV incentive auction to start March 29. Despite concerns about many agency proposals Tuesday (see 1603220053), Walden expressed no qualms Wednesday with how FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has prepared for the auction. He's attentive to but not alarmed by the dynamics facing low-power TV stakeholders and translators, and the repacking process facing broadcasters after the auction. Broadcasters have warned Congress the money and time allocated for repacking is insufficient. “Let’s see how this goes,” Walden said of the repacking. “I’m not ready to pull the alarm yet. I know where the red handle is on the wall to pull when necessary.”

The auction will need buyers and sellers and successfully operating software, Walden said, predicting it will likely achieve all of those objectives. He cited the agency’s “stress-testing” of the software and what seem to be a “huge volume of stations and station owners who want to participate, so we should have spectrum coming forward” and a “fairly substantial” number of buyers. “You’ve got some very nontraditional bidders,” Walden said of what he sees as industry convergence. The AWS-3 auction’s success -- beyond expectations -- bodes well for the incentive auction, said Walden, dismissing earlier concerns that stakeholders may have used up all their capital in the AWS-3 auction. Stakeholders likely see reason to bid now due to the limited prospects for additional spectrum and its long-term value, he said. He believes those who buy spectrum should be pressured to use it and not simply sit on it, he said, despite brushing off concerns about secondary market bidders. “They’re going to pony up and get as much as they can,” he said. “They don’t get to just sit on it forever.”

Walden bets the auction will produce many billions of dollars of revenue: “Is it 20? Is it 80? I don’t know. It’s going to be a lot.”