House Communications Subcommittee leaders are at odds over the right approach to unlicensed spectrum as the subcommittee continues negotiations on spectrum legislation, without a clear picture of when a markup will happen. Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., pushed Wednesday for more unlicensed spectrum to be released. But Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., questioned giving spectrum away for free. Unlicensed spectrum is “one of the most important issues in the continued negotiations over spectrum” in the committee and the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, a Democratic House staffer said.
The FCC should help schools, libraries and other anchor institutions when it overhauls the Universal Service Fund, said Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif. In a letter Monday to Chairman Julius Genachowski, Matsui said broadband carriers receiving money from the high-cost fund must help anchors in rural and urban areas. The letter was also signed by House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Mike Doyle, D-Pa. “These institutions are engaged in some of our most important national priorities -- education, economic development, health and wellness, job training and support, and access to e-government services, among many others,” the members wrote. The Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition agreed, calling broadband “essential to increasing educational opportunities, telemedicine and economic growth in rural America."
Public safety may be in striking distance of winning the 700 MHz D-block in the House Communications Subcommittee, after the subcommittee looked likely to say no. Communications Subcommitee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said Friday she expected Democrats would file an amendment to reallocate the D-block to public safety (CD Oct 17 p6). If all 12 of the subcommittee’s Democrats support reallocation, as some expect, public safety would only need three of 16 Republicans votes to have the amendment adopted. Some subcommittee Republicans said Monday that they are undecided on D-block. And the Public Safety Alliance is “feeling confident” it will have Republican votes, said spokesman Sean Kirkendall.
House Democrats urged a focus on broadband adoption as the FCC considers an overhaul to the Universal Service Fund. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., circulated the letter last week (CD Sept 22 p16) and got signatures from 34 Democrats, including House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. Matsui sent the letter Tuesday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. The letter “makes the crucial point that in reforming USF, the FCC must give a greater priority to adoption efforts than it has in the past,” Aspen Institute fellow Blair Levin, author of the National Broadband Plan, said in a statement. “Some at the FCC have said that dealing with adoption now is ‘putting the cart before the horse,’ but if the current USF Reform effort results in excessive spending in high cost areas, as some have urged, we will have a lavish cart but no money for a horse, and end up stuck on the side of the road.” The FCC welcomes Matsui’s “leadership in support of broadband adoption and fiscally responsible reform of the high-cost fund,” an FCC spokesman said. “In reforming all components of the Universal Service Fund, the Commission is focused on helping American consumers by increasing broadband availability and adoption and limiting the burden of USF contributions."
Cloud computing shows potential but there remain security and infrastructure concerns, House members said at a hearing Wednesday of the House Science Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation. Broadband buildout and spectrum will be critical to maintaining U.S. leadership on cloud systems, a Microsoft official said. Later, at a Hill briefing hosted by TechAmerica, Congressional High-Tech Caucus Co-Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif., announced a task force to work on policies promoting advancement of cloud technologies.
The FCC must ensure sufficient funding for broadband adoption programs as it revamps the Universal Service Fund, Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said in a letter circulating on Capitol Hill Tuesday. “A truly complete USF program would include adequate funding to bring critical programs, like broadband adoption initiatives modeled after the Lifeline and Link Up, into the broadband era,” Matsui said. Matsui plans to send the letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski as early as Friday, a Matsui spokeswoman said. “In today’s economy, the internet has become a necessity, not a luxury,” Matsui wrote. “We must do more to promote subscribership through adoption programs.” Many don’t subscribe because they lack the “necessary equipment, training or education opportunities to take advantage of the benefits of Internet use,” Matsui said. Others can’t afford “even basic broadband service,” she said.
The House co-sponsors of legislation passed last year on low-power FM radio stations picked up the support of 26 colleagues who want to see LPFM get more spectrum. Colleagues of Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Lee Terry, R-Neb., added their names to a letter similar to one those two and the Senate co-sponsors of the Local Community Radio Act earlier sent the FCC (CD Sept 8 p12). Implementation of the act must “ensure that sufficient channels are available in the most densely populated communities,” wrote Democrats including Edolphus Towns of New York, Jay Inslee of Washington, Doris Matsui of California. “We urge the Commission to ensure that licenses are awarded to truly local” groups, they wrote Wednesday. The agency has a rulemaking to deal with FM translators and LPFM. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights also backed a letter by many nonprofits asking the commission to free up more space for LPFMs when it processes translator applications from eight years ago, said Policy Director Brandy Doyle of low-power backer Prometheus Radio Project.
Building a national wireless broadband network for public safety is the top telecom priority this fall for the Senate Commerce Committee, committee aides said. House Democratic and Republican staff, meanwhile, have continued discussions on spectrum legislation through the August recess, House officials said. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., also is closely watching the FCC as it attempts to overhaul the Universal Service Fund and the committee may have a hearing on the AT&T/T-Mobile deal, his spokeswoman said. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are poised to move their Congressional Review Act rebuke of the FCC’s net neutrality order.
House Commerce Committee Democrats urged the GAO to examine how a “dig once” policy would help expand broadband. Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., wrote the agency Monday asking it to assess the benefits and costs of requiring installation of broadband conduit during highway construction. Eshoo introduced HR-1695 to that effect in May. She asked the GAO to examine existing state and local “dig once” policies, and what locations would benefit most from having the policy. “By installing conduit during highway construction, we can lower the cost of current and future broadband deployment, as well as reduce the inconvenience on the traveling public arising from sporadic trenching projects,” Eshoo wrote. The letter was also signed by committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Democratic committee members Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Doris Matsui of California.
Division over the 700 MHz D-block is the main barrier to bipartisan spectrum legislation in the House, lawmakers said at a Communications Subcommittee hearing Friday. The Commerce Committee’s top Democrats and top Republicans have signed onto separate draft bills. The Democrats want to reallocate the D-block to public safety and the Republicans seek to auction it to commercial providers. While both sides voiced optimism about reaching consensus, debt limit negotiations threaten to suck up a key component of the legislation: Voluntary incentive auctions. (See separate report in this issue.)