S.Amdt. 3120

1. Adds SEC. ___. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING SPECTRUM REALLOCATION wherever appropriate

   Adds a section

   Inserted: SEC. ___. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING SPECTRUM REALLOCATION.

   Inserted: It is the sense of Congress that--

   Inserted: (1) the Nation's mobile communications industry is a significant economic engine, by one estimate directly or indirectly supporting 3,800,000 jobs, or 2.6 percent of all United States employment, contributing $195,500,000,000 to the United States gross domestic product and driving $33,000,000,000 in productivity improvements in 2011;

   Inserted: (2) while wireless carriers are continually implementing new and more efficient technologies and techniques to maximize their existing spectrum capacity, there is a pressing need for additional spectrum for commercial mobile broadband services, with one report predicting that global mobile data traffic will increase 18-fold between 2011 and 2016 at a compound annual growth rate of 78 percent, reaching 10.8 exabytes per month by 2016;

   Inserted: (3) as the Nation faces the current spectrum shortage, consideration should be given to both the supply of spectrum for licensed networks and for unlicensed devices;

   Inserted: (4) while this additional demand can be met in part by reallocating spectrum from existing non-governmental uses, the reallocation of Federal Government spectrum for commercial use must also be part of the solution, given that, according to a 2012 Government Accountability Office study, the percentage of the most highly valued spectrum, that below 3700 MHz, used exclusively or predominantly by the Federal Government ranges from approximately 39 percent to 57 percent with exclusive Government use accounting for 18 percent of the total amount of spectrum below 3700 MHz;

   Inserted: (5) existing law ensures that Federal operations are not harmed as a result of a reallocation of spectrum for commercial use, including through the establishment of the Spectrum Relocation Fund to reimburse Federal users for the costs of planning and implementing relocation and, with respect to spectrum vacated by the Department of Defense, certification by the Secretaries of Defense and Commerce and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that replacement spectrum provides comparable technical characteristics to restore essential military capability;

   Inserted: (6) wherever possible, Federal Government spectrum identified for commercial use should be reallocated for such use;

   Inserted: (7) commercial users should only be required to share spectrum with government users as a transition mechanism while spectrum is being cleared by Federal users or in limited exclusion zones where relocation of existing Federal uses is not feasible, or where it can be determined that sharing will not significantly impair use of the spectrum for broadband services;

   Inserted: (8) among existing Federal Government bands, the spectrum between 1755-1780 MHz is particularly well-suited for reallocation to commercial use because it is identified internationally for commercial mobile services and is used for that purpose throughout most of the world and because it is immediately adjacent to existing domestic wireless spectrum and would fit seamlessly into the current mobile broadband spectrum portfolio allowing for more immediate equipment development and deployment;

   Inserted: (9) the Department of Defense should prepare a long term plan in consultation with relevant agencies and private sector stakeholders to determine equitable outcomes for the Nation in relation to spectrum use that balances the private sector's demand for spectrum with national security needs;

   Inserted: (10) in most cases Federal operations can and should be relocated from this band, possibly except for a limited subset of operations in rural areas where a Federal Government station cannot be relocated without jeopardizing essential military capability;

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   Inserted: (11) auctioning this band on a paired basis with the band between 2155-2180 MHz that was designated for auction under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 would permit alignment with existing services, facilitate faster deployment of services, maximize efficient use of the spectrum, and yield more dollars in auction revenues than if the 1755-1780 MHz were auctioned by itself;

   Inserted: (12) the President should therefore expeditiously direct Federal users on the 1755-1780 MHz band to prepare, not later than May 31, 2013, a relocation plan that includes the costs of relocating from this band; and

   Inserted: (13) the Federal Communications Commission reallocate this band to commercial use and auction it on a paired basis with the band between 2155-2180 MHz.

   The amendment doesn't say where this goes; the clerk decides.

   Original wording

   At the appropriate place, insert the following:

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As printed