House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., asked FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Wednesday to act “expeditiously” and “decisively” on special access reform. The commission is expected to initiate another round of data requests in an upcoming special access rulemaking. “More than fifteen years after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 tasked the FCC with ensuring that special access rates and contracts are just and reasonable, the special access market continues to be dominated by just three incumbent telephone companies,” she said in a letter. “The FCC’s history of deregulating the special access market … has preserved this market concentration, contributing to a history of rate increases and little competition.” The letter was also signed by House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif. Last December the FCC completed its second round of data collection in the special access proceeding, docket 05-25 (CD Dec 8 p1).
NAB CEO Gordon Smith on Wednesday urged leaders of the federal spectrum working group to require a “comprehensive” spectrum inventory that looks at both the private and public sector use of spectrum. “Neither Congress nor the American people have a clear understanding of what spectrum is being used, by whom and for what purpose,” Smith wrote working group co-chairs Reps. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif. (http://xrl.us/bm6t7j). “Reasoned policy decisions and thoughtful consideration of these matters simply cannot be honestly and earnestly debated without the facts.” Smith chided the “striking lack of objective information” about U.S. spectrum policy and said that prior congressional requests for a comprehensive spectrum inventory “have gone unanswered.” CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter shot back at the NAB letter for “denying the existence of a spectrum crunch,” in a statement Wednesday. “While the NAB is committed to its ‘deny and delay’ strategy, the mobile industry is working to deploy the most efficient technologies available, building new infrastructure at a record pace, and engage with policymakers -- including the members of the spectrum working group -- to identify and move to market spectrum."
It’s time for industry and government stakeholders to “roll up our sleeves, lock the engineers from both sides in a room and figure out a path forward” on spectrum reallocation, said T-Mobile Vice President-Federal Legislative Affairs Tony Russo in a blog post Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bm544v). Additional bandwidth is “essential to continue offering cutting edge mobile broadband services to consumers and regaining the competitiveness of the wireless industry,” he said. Russo endorsed the Efficient Use of Government Spectrum Act (HR-4817), which he said can accommodate the needs of “current government users while carving a path forward to reallocate the spectrum for commercial wireless services.” Reps. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif., introduced HR-4817 last week to require the FCC to pair for commercial auction the 1755-1780 MHz band with the 2155-2180 MHz band (CD April 27 p3). Stearns said the legislation would bring more spectrum to the commercial market and raise $12 billion for the U.S. Treasury while offering the Defense Department protections for reallocation. Russo acknowledged that the full clearing of the 1755-1780 MHz band may not be possible in a short timeframe and said the legislation offers a transition plan whereby all users can share the spectrum. “Only through cooperative engagement will we get to a solution that works for both current and future licensees within the three-year period remaining under separate legislation that authorized the auction of the 2155-2180 MHz band,” he said. Both the 1755-1780 MHz and 2155-2180 MHz band should “obviously” be sold together to provide “certainty to auction participants about what they are buying,” Russo said.
Reps. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif., introduced a bill Thursday to require the FCC to pair for commercial auction the 1755-1780 MHz band with the 2155-2180 MHz band. Stearns said the Efficient Use of Government Spectrum Act would bring more spectrum to the commercial market and raise $12 billion for the U.S. Treasury while offering the Defense Department protections for reallocation. Wireless groups hailed the bill, which they called an important step towards alleviating the spectrum crunch and bolstering the economy. The 1755 MHz band has long been a top target of carriers.
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., appointed eight subcommittee members to a bipartisan federal spectrum working group Wednesday. Walden said the group is tasked with identifying the most efficient way to use government spectrum. “As the largest single spectrum user, the federal government could save taxpayers money and provide its own agencies better technology tools while simultaneously making more frequencies available to meet America’s exploding demand for mobile broadband services,” he said. Walden and Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., will be ex-officio members of the working group. The group will be co-chaired by Reps. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and includes Reps. John Shimkus, R-Ill., Mike Rogers, R-Mich., Steve Scalise, R-La., Diana DeGette, D-Colo., John Barrow, D-Ga., and Donna Christensen and Del. D-Virgin Islands. CTIA commended the announcement and said it would work with the group to identify additional spectrum that can be brought to the commercial market.
The cybersecurity working group of the House Communications Subcommittee aims to finish its work by the end of the month or early April, multiple Capitol Hill officials said. The group has held several staff-level meetings this month with stakeholders from across the tech sector and, at minimum, plans to release recommendations for the subcommittee, Hill and telecom industry officials said. Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., has said he formed the group to make recommendations on several cyberissues including Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), securing the supply chain and a voluntary code of conduct and best practices for network operators.
Network operators have enough incentive to protect networks from cyber attacks, major telecom industry officials said Wednesday at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing. But legislators should remove barriers to information sharing, promote cybersecurity education and invest in research and development, they said. The witnesses said new mandates are unnecessary and potentially burdensome. “We don’t know what it is that you should be telling us to be doing,” said AT&T Chief Security Officer Edward Amoroso.
The next in a series of cybersecurity hearings by the House Communications Subcommittee is scheduled for March 7, the Commerce Committee said Wednesday. The hearing is at 10 a.m. in Room 2123, Rayburn Building. Also, Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., appointed six of his members to serve on a bipartisan Cybersecurity Working Group: Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Reps. Lee Terry, R-Neb., Doris Matsui, D-Calif., Bob Latta, R-Ohio, Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. Terry and Eshoo will lead the group and Walden will be an ex-officio member. “The threat [of cyberattacks] is real and the economic impact on businesses, especially smaller companies, is serious,” Walden said. “This threat is not a partisan issue."
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., “compromised” on governance in negotiations with the House on spectrum legislation, the Senate Commerce Committee chairman said Tuesday. Rockefeller agreed to put NTIA in charge of deploying the public safety network, Rockefeller told reporters after Democratic senators’ weekly policy lunch. Rockefeller’s original spectrum bill, S-911, proposed setting up a federal entity called the Public Safety Broadband Network Corp. to govern the network. The corporation would have included federal, state, local, tribal, public safety and private sector members. Meanwhile, the House GOP bill had proposed a state-by-state approach involving a third-party administrator. The House-Senate conference on the payroll tax cut extension is expected to include spectrum auctions as a pay-for provision in the bill due by month’s end. Staffers from the House and Senate Commerce committees are separately negotiating the spectrum piece (CD Feb 7 p9). While not a conferee, Rockefeller has signaled he’s willing to compromise on the spectrum bill as long as the end result is a national network for public safety, a Commerce Committee spokesperson said. The House Commerce Committee didn’t respond to a request for comment. Committee Democrat Doris Matsui of California said she hopes “that any final deal will have a strong governance structure in place.” Matsui didn’t comment specifically on the NTIA approach cited by Rockefeller, but warned that “the lack of a strong governance structure could threaten the achievability of a nationwide public safety network.”
The FCC approved an order Tuesday rewriting the rules for the Universal Service Fund Lifeline program. Commissioners Robert McDowell and Mignon Clyburn found aspects of the order lacking, but both voted to approve the order as a whole. McDowell dissented in part and concurred in part. Clyburn issued a concurrence on one part of the order.