Radio Spectrum Inventory Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3125) to require an inventory of radio spectrum bands managed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members will have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the measure now under consideration and insert extraneous material into the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Wireless communications services are rapidly growing. Each year, millions of users graduate from basic cellular telephone services to Smart telephones that employ a broad range of data services. Those services require far greater bandwidth than traditional cellular telephones; and the data services that are offered through Smartphones are becoming ever more sophisticated, often employing full-motion video as part of the range of applications that can be made available through the Smartphones.

The combination of greater Smartphone use and far more elaborate applications is placing unprecedented demands on our limited wireless spectrum availability. To meet these growing needs, in the near future more spectrum must be made available for commercial wireless communications services, and that new spectrum would be made available for auction to the successful wireless bidders.

Even the launch later this year of the fourth generation of the wireless services by the major cellular service providers using the spectrum that was previously occupied by the television broadcasters for their analog television transmissions will only provide a brief respite with regard to these ever-rising demands for additional spectrum, and so we clearly are compelled to act.

Responding to this need, last July I joined with Chairman Waxman; our full committee ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton); and my friend and colleague on the subcommittee, our subcommittee ranking member, Mr. Stearns, in introducing the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act, which is before the House this morning.

It directs the NTIA and the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Federal Communications Commission to undertake a comprehensive survey of the Nation's spectrum and report to us on current spectrum utilization, and include recommendations of which, if any, of the least utilized blocks of spectrum could be reallocated for commercial use or subjected to spectrum sharing with commercial users.

The measure is a thoughtful approach to meeting the extraordinary spectrum demands that our Nation will soon face. It will produce a timely blueprint for our future decisions about which spectrum should be reallocated for auctions to commercial service providers.

Under the bill, within 1 year of the date of enactment, the NTIA and the FCC would also create a Web site to make the spectrum inventory publicly available. They would report the results of the inventory to the House and Senate Commerce Committees within 2 years of the date of enactment, and that report would include a description of the information that could not be made publicly available for national security reasons.

The agencies would also, within 2 years, submit to the House and Senate Commerce Committees a reallocation report that would include a recommendation of which spectrum should be reallocated or otherwise made available for shared access. That recommendation should be updated by the agencies in follow-on reports to the committees, which are to be submitted every other year following the submission of the initial report. Those follow-on reports may be updates to the initial report and not necessarily be top-to-bottom reviews.

I want to express appreciation to our colleagues on a bipartisan basis--Mr. Waxman, Mr. Barton, Mr. Stearns, other members of the subcommittee--who, in our hearing and markup sessions in the subcommittee, contributed richly to our dialogue and to structuring the legislation that we have before us this morning. It is a bipartisan measure. All of the committee members have been involved in this constructive exercise, and I want to thank them for their participation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge approval of the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I'm pleased to yield to the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman) and principal author of this measure, such time as he may consume.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I'm pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).

Mr. Speaker, at this time I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment of our Energy and Commerce Committee.

The gentlelady controls the time. I will be happy to engage in the colloquy with the gentlelady.

Would the gentlelady yield?

I thank the gentlelady for yielding.

There is no doubt that more spectrum is needed to meet our Nation's rising demand for wireless services. Conducting the spectrum inventory that this legislation requires is an essential first step. It will offer a clear path and a road map for the next steps in making available adequate spectrum by giving the Congress and the FCC a baseline of the location and use of our spectrum resources. That baseline should inform the Congress and the commission on decisions regarding spectrum use and possible spectrum reallocation.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding.

As to the first matter, I agree with her that a thorough scientific examination of spectrum use must be the core of the inventory that this measure requires. I also agree that the right approach is for the FCC to work with television broadcasters to identify the spectrum they now hold that on a purely consensual basis could be repurposed for commercial wireless use. Broadcasters who surrender spectrum would receive compensation in exchange for a voluntary spectrum transfer. I would not support the commission's requiring stations to give up spectrum involuntarily.

The right approach is that specified in this legislation--learn where we are, understand thoroughly how current spectrum is used, identify that part that is perhaps underutilized that could be reallocated or submitted to spectrum sharing through the new spectrum sharing technologies and then to the extent that based on that inventory it would be appropriate for broadcasters to enter into conversations about surrendering a portion of their spectrum on a voluntary basis, that would obviously be an appropriate step. It would not be an appropriate step to require that broadcasters engage in the surrender of any part of the spectrum they hold.

And I thank the gentlelady for raising these very important questions

that help illuminate the debate this morning.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I'm pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Washington State (Mr. Inslee).

Mr. Speaker, I want to again thank all Members who have participated on a bipartisan basis in bringing this measure to the floor. Many Members have contributed to its construction. It is the right path to take.

This will bring us to a point where we are in a position to decide how to meet the rising spectrum demands that inevitably we will confront within just a few years. It is the right approach, and I commend this measure to the House and urge its approval.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I also rise in support of H.R. 3125, the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act. As the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Boucher) mentioned, it's a very important bill, and I urge its passage.

This bill offers an opportunity to evaluate all of the frequency bands between 225 megahertz and 10 gigahertz and simply to determine who uses these frequency bands and the purpose for which they are being used.

While this bill requires NTIA and the FCC to recommend which spectrum, if any, should be reallocated, Congress ultimately will decide whether reallocation should occur. For Congress to make such an informed judgment, we need a solid set of facts before we do it. So it's very clear that the United States will need additional spectrum to meet the growing demand for wireless broadband, fourth-generation wireless. In fact, we are victims of our own success in this country.

The United States currently leads the world in wireless. Wireless providers have used spectrum to provide U.S. consumers with many innovative voice and data services. The number of mobile voice consumers in the United States has surpassed the number of wire line customers. Back in 1996, when we passed the Telecommunications Act, I don't think anybody would have thought that would have happened. And the number of mobile broadband consumers has increased exponentially over the past several years.

As customers increase the amount of time they spend on their mobile devices talking, emailing, surfing the net, cell sites become constrained for capacity. As a result, we are facing, in the words of FCC Chairman Genachowski, a ``looming spectrum crisis.'' For example, a voice call requires approximately 10,000 bits per second, while downloading a video requires millions of bits per second.

This bill creates a thoughtful, comprehensive process through which Congress can identify whether to reallocate spectrum that is currently underutilized. Current license holders should not fear this process. It will be open and transparent and provide all spectrum users with the opportunity to explain the purposes for which they use spectrum.

This is a beginning, Mr. Speaker, not the end of the debate over the future of the spectrum policy in the United States.

Now, this is a bill that's very important. You'd almost consider it not only for innovation and for commercial use, but long term, on behalf of national security purposes, too. So don't discount the fact that we are just asking for an inventory. It's something that should be done, and I think anybody who's interested in fiscal responsibility should realize asking for an inventory is the best way to find out what you have and how to use it better.

So I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to Mr. Pitts, the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise).

I yield myself 15 seconds to reply to the distinguished Member of Massachusetts.

I just got a tweet on Twitter notifying me that Representative Ed Markey was speaking. His fan club is so omnipresent that it just came across saying to everybody in the United States that he was on the floor speaking so eloquently. So I couldn't resist pulling it up and seeing what it said.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn).

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Tennessee to engage in a colloquy with the chairman of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Broun).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman very much, and I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Boucher) for his leadership on this critical issue, along with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) in partnership with Mr. Waxman and with Mr. Barton.

Mr. Boucher and I have been working on these issues for many, many, many years, and this bill that has been produced by his subcommittee is something that, in my opinion, is going to go a long way towards helping our country to create a new boom economically in this wireless sector. We saw a great boom in the 1990s when we moved over 200 megahertz of spectrum, creating the third, fourth, fifth and sixth cell phone license, combined with the Telecom Act of 1996. We saw, actually, a transformation in the way in which we communicate in our country.

Who would think that we could move from black rotary dial phones to BlackBerrys in just 10 years, almost on a ubiquitous basis.

Who would think that Mr. Stearns could be checking his BlackBerry even as I'm speaking out here on the floor? That's something we're very proud of. We're very proud of that revolution in the 1990s. And I think we have the potential here in this legislation to accomplish the very same kind of addition to the spectrum capacity. And Ms. Blackburn is showing not only can we use these devices now for voice but also for video and for data.

It's become a technology with the great deal of flexibility; yet because of this technology, we are going to be able--and I thank the chairman for this--to inventory each radio spectrum band of frequencies from 225 megahertz to 10 gigahertz, and that includes the radio services authorized to operate within each band of frequencies, the identity of each Federal or non-Federal user within which such radio service is authorized to operate in each band of the frequencies, the total amount of spectrum by band of frequencies allocated to each Federal or non-Federal user and an approximation of the extent to which each Federal or non-Federal user is using each band of frequencies.

This basic goal that the legislation advances to create this inventory will

make it possible for us to build on this revolution that occurred from the mid-1990s to 2005 where companies whose names did not exist-- Google, eBay, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube--are now replaced or added to with a whole new generation of companies, of technologies, of gadgets and applications that will give incredible economic stimulus to our country.

So what we have here is a debate over the American economy, and it's central to our wellbeing; yet in a lot of ways, it just doesn't get talked about as being the biggest part of what happened in the 1990s. And as it moves into the 21st century, we're seeing these technologies now be included in new energy technologies, new health care technologies, new education technologies. It now has infiltrated technology after technology in our country.

And what the gentleman from Virginia is doing in a bipartisan partnership with the gentleman from Florida is, in my opinion, central to ensuring that we have the leadership in this mobile innovation, that we have a smart spectrum policy that is put on the books, and then we can just get out of the way and watch these entrepreneurs and watch these whole tech communities make it possible for us, with a little bit of luck from Mr. Stearns and others, that the applications become so great that perhaps he and millions of other Americans will never again have to look up from their BlackBerry. There will just be so much interesting stuff that is on it, it will be so versatile.

So thank you so much and congratulations. I urge an ``aye'' vote on this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman for his diligent work on this bill and also Mr. Stearns for his leadership as we worked through these issues in committee. And I do rise in support of the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act.

In committee, I highlighted the importance of listening to the engineers as we move forward on our spectrum inventory. And today I want to talk about the importance of this bill to the wireless industry. America's wireless industry is the undisputed world leader, and Mr. Stearns and Mr. Markey have both highlighted portions of that as we have played with our devices during Mr. Markey's remarks focusing on the innovations that have come our way.

Americans pay less per minute for the use of wireless services than users in Europe or Asia. And despite having just 7 percent of the global wireless subscribers, America's wireless companies serve more than 21 percent of global 3G subscribers. Handsets and applications that can be launched anywhere in the world routinely appear in the U.S. market first.

Unfortunately, our position in the global marketplace is not something that is guaranteed to us, and without careful attention to support the need of the growth of the wireless industry through the release of additional spectrum, we risk ceding that important leadership to nations that have already identified substantial swaths of spectrum that will be made available for commercial use. That is why the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act is so very important by providing a road map for policymakers regarding where we may find additional spectrum that can be used for wireless broadband services in the U.S. Enactment of H.R. 3125 will help ensure that the U.S. is in a position to match, and hopefully surpass, our trading partners by making additional spectrum available for commercial use.

I urge support of the legislation.

I would yield to the gentleman from Virginia and ask permission for the colloquy.

I thank the gentleman from Florida for the time.

And, Mr. Chairman, last month the Federal Communications Commission released its National Broadband Plan which contained some very ambitious recommendations with respect to spectrum availability. I would like to ask the subcommittee chairman his views on how the FCC should proceed on the inventory required by this bill and on the recommendations of the broadband plan. Is it the chairman's view that the inventory required by this bill should inform the FCC in its decision-making with respect to the potential reallocation of spectrum sought by the broadband plan?

Yes.

I thank the subcommittee chairman for his explanation, and I associate myself with his remarks. I share the chairman's expectation regarding the importance of collecting and analyzing the data in the spectrum inventory before making decisions about possible spectrum relocation.

I'd also like to a add my own expectation that the spectrum inventory will be thorough and scientific in order to serve as an accurate metric of our spectrum use.

I have one final question to ask the chairman. The broadband plan includes recommendations regarding reallocation of many of the frequencies currently used to provide broadcast television service. The plan recommends starting with voluntary measures to relocate broadcast stations to different frequencies; But it then hints that other, presumably involuntary, methods of relocating broadcast stations may be necessary.

My question, Mr. Chairman, is whether you believe that the FCC should engage in involuntary methods to move broadcasters to different frequencies in order to free up additional spectrum.

I thank the chairman for his explanations.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support passage of H.R. 3125, The Radio

Spectrum Inventory Act. I'm proud to be an initial cosponsor of this legislation, and I look forward to seeing it enacted into law. Thank you, Chairman Waxman for your leadership on this bill, and I appreciate the important bipartisan work of the Ranking Minority Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Joe Barton.

We pass this bill at an opportune moment. This past month, the Federal Communications Commission released its National Broadband Plan. The FCC pointed out what many of us already have known for a long time--broadband rollout requires an increasing amount of spectrum.

We're already seeing competing industries squabble over spectrum, and we are in danger of having an all-out range war between the wireless industry and broadcasters. We can head it all off at the pass by doing the obvious--review our resources first, and reallocate second.

That doesn't mean I want the FCC to stand still while we review the spectrum chart. There is plenty of spectrum already available, like the Advanced Wireless Spectrum, that should go for useful purposes like a free national wireless broadband lifeline. So the FCC must keep moving and deploy what they can as expeditiously as possible.

We've also had to make some compromises on this bill to comply with essential national security issues. As a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, I recognize the essential need to document spectrum use and prevent channel hoarding, and as the Chair of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence's Subcommittee on Intelligence Community Management, my views are likewise shaped by the need to safeguard channels that our intelligence, security and military agencies may need in the future. Our very lives may depend upon it.

I believe this bill finds that happy medium. It will spur economic growth and innovation while keeping America safe. The FCC and NTIA can review our spectrum assets in a judicial manner and develop informational resources that will guide us as we implement the National Broadband Plan.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this bill.