[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 363 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 363
To require the Federal Communications Commission to allocate additional
spectrum for unlicensed use by wireless broadband devices, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 27, 2003
Mr. Honda (for himself, Ms. Dunn, and Ms. Lofgren) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Federal Communications Commission to allocate additional
spectrum for unlicensed use by wireless broadband devices, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Jumpstart Broadband Act''.
SEC. 2. ENCOURAGEMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES.
(a) Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure Devices.--
(1) Immediate allocation of spectrum.--Within 180 days
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall
allocate not less than an additional 255 megahertz of
contiguous spectrum in the 5 gigahertz band for unlicensed use
by wireless broadband devices while ensuring that Department of
Defense devices and systems are not compromised.
(2) Interference protection.--Within 180 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, the National Telecommunications
and Information Administration shall, after consultation with
all interested agencies and parties, including the Department
of Defense, establish standards for interference protection
that is reasonably required to enable incumbent Federal
government agency users of spectrum allocated under paragraph
(1) to continue to use that spectrum, and advise the Commission
of those standards.
(3) Device requirements.--Within 360 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Commission shall--
(A) with respect to spectrum allocation under
paragraph (1), adopt minimal technical and device rules
to facilitate robust and efficient use for wireless
broadband devices; and
(B) amend its rules to require that all wireless
broadband devices manufactured after the effective date
of those rules that operate in the spectrum allocated
under paragraph (1)--
(i) be capable of 2-way digital
communications;
(ii) meet the interference protection
standards established under paragraph (2).
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
(a) In General.--In this Act:
(1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Communications Commission.
(2) Broadband service.--The term ``broadband service''
means high rate digital transmission service--
(A) via cable modem, digital subscriber line,
wireless, satellite, or other telecommunications
technology; and
(B) capable of reliably transmitting voice, data,
and/or video simultaneously between and among digital
devices and between these devices and the Internet, on
a consistent basis, at data transfer rates no slower
than those defined from time to time by the Commission.
(3) Wireless broadband device.--The term ``wireless
broadband device'' includes--
(A) U-NII devices (as defined in section 15.403(i)
of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations); and
(B) other devices used to access wireless broadband
services.
(b) Terms Defined in the Communications Act of 1934.--Except as
provided in subsection (a), any term used in this Act that is defined
in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153) has the
meaning given that term in that section.
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