New bill requires at least 1,250 megahertz of spectrum between 1.3-13.2 GHz be auctioned for full-power, licensed commercial use
It has been slightly more than a year since the auction authority of the Federal Communications Commission was allowed to lapse, and a new, Republican-backed bill has been introduced that may generate some movement on the restoration of that authority and a legislative direction for midband spectrum development.
However, it also sets up a clash between those who advocate that the wireless industry needs full-power, exclusive licenses to spectrum and those who back spectrum-sharing approaches. The Biden administration is expected to release this week an implementation plan of its own National Spectrum Strategy, which takes a “share when feasible” approach.
The one-year anniversary of the lapse of auction authority came on March 9. Today, two top Republicans—Sen. Ted Cruz, the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), ranking member of the subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband—introduced a new bill that they said was the result of a year-long effort to put together a spectrum proposal that is meant to both protect the country’s national security interests (since federal users, including the Department of Defense, are the current users of most of the airwaves highly sought by the telecom industry) and achieve the “greatest value possible” for American taxpayers. A third Republican, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, is an original co-sponsor of the bill.
