Providing a better future for mobile devices

The recently passed bipartisan budget agreement in Congress includes a somewhat overlooked provision that will guarantee a better future for your mobile devices. Calling or texting your friends and family, downloading a work document, or watching a movie, all require the same increasingly scarce commodity – more spectrum.

Spectrum is like the pavement of the wireless information superhighway. Without enough of it, wireless Internet traffic gets snarled and slow. As the number of mobile devices and applications continues to grow, a spectrum shortage means a bumpy technological road, including more dropped calls and slower downloads.

{mosads}The budget legislation not only opens the spigot for additional spectrum but also creates an important new precedent for Congress to regularly authorize more sales of this valuable commodity in the future.  

The recently enacted law requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to auction 30 MHz of spectrum currently used by the government for use by the private sector and to identify an additional 100 MHz for future auctions. This is great news for a variety of reasons.

First it’s going to help everyone who uses a mobile device. Spectrum is scarce and needed. The federal government controls large swaths of it and it’s often not allocated effectively. This legislation means more of this valuable commodity will be used in the most efficient manner.

Second, it helps taxpayers and the economy. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the recently authorized auction will bring in nearly $5 billion to the federal treasury. These additional revenues can help lower the federal budget deficit or could be used as offsets for other critical spending priorities like finding cures for diseases or improving our country’s crumbling transportation infrastructure.

Third, it creates an important new precedent for Congress to regularly identify more spectrum and authorize additional, targeted auctions in the future. This is a critical new approach that will improve spectrum allocation and management in the years ahead.  Due to existing budget rules, if Congress authorizes the Federal Communication Commission to auction spectrum any time during a ten year period, when these auctions occur, how much and what parts of the spectrum will be auctioned, as well as its economic value, are all unknown.

Consider a recent auction the FCC conducted known as AWS-3, a band of spectrum controlled, in part, by the Department of Defense. The last time Congress granted the FCC ten-year auction authority in 2012, CBO argued carrying out AWS-3 was too complicated, challenging and would likely not occur.  As such, the budget office assumed no revenues associated with this particular auction for at least ten years. However, less than two years later, the AWS-3 auction did occur and it raised over $40 billion that went to funding a national public safety network and reducing the deficit.

Technology and the demands for spectrum are constantly changing. By authorizing specific spectrum sales over shorter periods of time, Congress can better capture these transformations and seize better economic value for both the U.S. taxpayer and those selling the spectrum.

The new precedent established in the recently passed budget agreement is great news for consumers and taxpayers. It shows that Congress is learning and adapting the way it manages spectrum policy as spectrum becomes increasingly important to our economy. Shorter grants of auction authority for specific parts of the spectrum mean more accountability and economic value. It will also mean more of this valuable commodity will become available for private sector use, producing a better future for individuals and business, and all of their mobile communications and video needs.

Upton represents Michigan’s 6^th Congressional District and has served in the House since 1987. He is chairman of theEnergy and Commerce Committee. Walden has represented Oregon’s 2^nd Congressional District since 1999. He sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee and is chairman of its Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.