Subject: [NEXTEL-1] House Subcommittee Hears Testimony on Spectrum Relocation Bill

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 14:27:45 -0500

House Subcommittee Hears Testimony on Spectrum Relocation Bill

In testimony before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and
the Internet, representatives from government agencies and the wireless industry
expressed support for H.R. 1320, the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act.
The bill, sponsored by subcommittee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R.-Mich.),
creates a spectrum relocation fund to pay for government agencies to open the
way for 90MHz of spectrum to be used commercially. Nancy Victory, head of the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) said her
agency enthusiastically supports the legislation because it streamlines and
supports the process of relocating incumbent users. While noting some of the
challenges facing the current plan, Steven Price, deputy assistant secretary of
defense, said that H.R. 1320 could be instrumental in ensuring that the military
has continued access to appropriate spectrum. Speaking on behalf of the
wireless industry, Steven K. Berry, senior vice president for government affairs at
CTIA, described H.R. 1320 as a "win for the economy, a win for consumers, and
a win for national security." He said that the legislation fully funds government
relocation; will result in workable timelines for both the wireless industry and
government incumbents, and provides certainty and accountability in developing
relocation cost estimates, using auction proceeds to fund relocations, and
following relocation cost and timing estimates, “Two years ago, the Sebago
Group produced an economic study estimating that advanced wireless services
could spur $500 billion in economic growth and the creation of over 400,000 jobs
in the U.S. economy over the next 10 years. This legislation encourages growth,
stimulates investment and the creation of new jobs in the high-tech sector,”
Berry said. (Source: internetnews.com, Los Angeles Times, CTIA Statement) -
more info
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Spectrum hearing prompts plea for IT education funding
Speakers want tools for training and public participation

By  Grant  Gross  March 25, 2003

WASHINGTON -- Two Democratic lawmakers and a former broadcasting executive Tuesday called
on the U.S. Congress to set up a trust fund for technology education as the House of
Representatives tries to streamline the process in which the government auctions off some
of its radio spectrum to private companies.
Lawrence K. Grossman, former president of both NBC News and the Public Broadcasting
System, during a spectrum hearing asked representatives to put the excess money from
commercial auctions of the reallocated spectrum into an Educational Trust Fund earmarked
for IT education and training.

The trust fund would "ensure that the nation's vast educational and cultural heritage,
housed in our museums, libraries and universities, will reach beyond their walls and into
the home, school and workplace, even in the poorest and most remote areas of the nation,"
Grossman said. "It would transform the Internet into an enriched tool for training,
learning, and public participation."

Grossman's pleas were part of a hearing of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's
Subcommittee on Telecommunication and the Internet, focusing on the proposed Commercial
Spectrum Enhancement Act. The proposed law would streamline the five-plus-year process for
moving valuable spectrum allocated to the U.S. Department of Defense and other agencies to
private companies deploying 3G (third-generation) wireless services. In July 2002, the
U.S. Department of Commerce announced that 90 MHz of wireless spectrum would be made
available for 3G. Of that total, 45 MHz would come from commercial spectrum and 45 MHz
from the Defense Department and other federal agencies.

The federal government plans to auction that spectrum to commercial users by early 2005,
and estimates the spectrum will be available for wireless customers some time in 2008. The
Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act, introduced by Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan
Republican, would streamline that process and set up a trust fund, funded by the sale of
the federal spectrum, to ensure the federal agencies would be reimbursed for the cost of
moving to less commercially popular sections of the wireless spectrum.

Steven Berry, senior vice president for governmental affairs at the Cellular
Telecommunications and Internet Association, said he wholeheartedly supported Upton's
plan, and Nancy Victory, assistant secretary for communications and information at the
Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said
the bill was similar enough to a proposal offered by her agency and the George W. Bush
administration last July. The administration bill didn't get through Congress last year.

Such a process would bring "certainty and predictability" to reallocation auctions,
Victory said. "Predictability of process also will permit incumbent (agencies) to minimize
any temporary out-of-pocket costs -- a big concern for busy agencies with tight budgets,"
she said.

However, Steven Price, deputy assistant secretary of defense for spectrum, sensors and C3
(command, control and communications), said the Defense Department has some concerns about
how fast Upton bill's speed will move the auction along. The bill would give agencies
about three months to identify the costs of relocating to another piece of the spectrum,
Price said, whereas 18 months is a more reasonable time-frame.

Some representatives also expressed concerns about the Defense Department (DOD) losing
spectrum in a time when the agency uses wireless technologies to do a variety of tasks,
including guiding missiles and other weapons. Price said the military has no plans to
shrink the amount of spectrum it uses.

"If someone had asked us, 'do you want to move or not want to move?' we wouldn't want to
move," he said of the reallocation process. "Over time, the DOD believes we'll need more
spectrum, not less."

Democratic Representative John Dingell of Michigan also raised concerns that the Upton
bill doesn't give Congress enough oversight over how the spectrum auction funds are
claimed by federal agencies. The Upton bill gives Congressional committees a 30-day
notification of auction funds being transferred to agencies from the trust fund set up in
the Upton bill.

"Unfortunately, my experience with government agencies and, in particular, with the
Department of Defense, indicates that a bit more oversight is necessary to ensure that
scarce federal dollars are being spent wisely and in a manner that is consistent with what
the Congress intended," Dingell said. "Indeed, this committee's past oversight
investigations have found many examples of wasteful spending by agencies, and particularly
the Department of Defense."

Dingell joined Grossman in calling for a second trust fund to benefit technology education
at public schools, and Democrat Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts urged the
committee to consider the educational trust fund proposal in his Spectrum Commons and
Digital Dividends Act, introduced March 20. Markey also called for Congress to make more
unlicensed spectrum available for the public's use.

"When the FCC (U.S. Federal Communications Commission) does decide to proceed with
auctions as a means of granting licenses for use of the public's airwaves, the public
deserves to reap the benefits of the sale of licenses to its airwaves," Markey said, while
calling for a Digital Dividend Trust Fund. "These benefits should not only manifest
themselves in the offering of new commercial services and the temporary infusion of cash
into the federal treasury."

However, Democrats on the subcommittee couldn't even agree that a second trust fund for
technology education was a top priority. Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat,
suggested the subcommittee consider a third trust fund to help emergency responders, such
as police and firefighters, better use their chunk of the spectrum.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/03/25/HNitlearning_1.html

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