America needs more wireless resources

As Congress sprints towards a December 11 showdown on spending, members of the Senate Commerce Committee will also advance significant legislation that would both help smart-phone dependent consumers and aid the actual budget negotiations.  At issue is the sale of wireless airwaves known as spectrum, an invaluable and diminishing part of our Internet.  As much as 70 percent of spectrum is owned by our government. Leaders in both parties agree that we need more spectrum and that there should be a better balance of government and the private sector when it comes to ownership.  Experts say this is necessary to alleviate shortfalls in the wireless world and will generate millions, potentially billions of dollars, for a government looking for cash.

Most Americans don’t fully comprehend the importance of wireless spectrum when it comes to our Internet nor do they really need to know much more than, generally speaking, it’s the invisible infrastructure that enables mobile broadband.  In the recently passed Bipartisan Budget Agreement (BBA), Congress took some important steps to start freeing up new space so we can keep it a vibrant, innovative space for the future.

{mosads}The Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2015, was embedded in the BBA and set timelines and goals for the identification of federally owned spectrum as well as funding mechanisms to transfer that spectrum for other uses.  If properly implemented, federal agencies will identify a minimum of 30 Megahertz of spectrum by January of 2022, and the FCC will conduct competitive bidding for new licenses for that spectrum by July of 2024.  The Spectrum Relocation Fund received $500 million dollars for implementation that is expected to come from the proceeds of spectrum auctions.  

Latinos care because we are heavily engaged in All Things Internet, over-indexed in our adoption and use of smartphones and fully committed to making sure that our kids have full access to the Internet and all of the benefits this delivers.  We are also aware that when the supply of any commodity becomes scarce, prices go up and communities on the lower end of the income scale tend to be the first to be squeezed out. It is anticipated that by 2019, mobile data traffic will be six times that of 2014 and there is near unanimous bi-partisan agreement that there are serious consumer and innovation consequences if we don’t act today.  

Notwithstanding the incredible innovation around the Internet emanating from ISPs, providers and others, we simply can’t get where we need to go simply through technological advancement.  The anticipated 600 percent growth in mobile data traffic by 2019 highlights the need to get more spectrum that can be accessed by consumers and both the Pipeline Act and MOBILE NOW Act recognize that the federal government has excess spectrum available that can and should be repurposed and put to use meeting consumers’ growing needs.

Set for markup but quickly withdrawn shortly after passage of the BBA, the “Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless Act”, shortened to MOBILE NOW Act, has a number of promising aspects for the long-term future of consumer access to spectrum.  Importantly, it would increase the 30 MHz in the Pipeline Act to 50 MHz. The principal stumbling blocks appear to be some of the federal agency stakeholders.  The Department of Defense has been notoriously possessive of its spectrum, raising the difficult to question aegis of national defense.  Having said that, most observers believe that a process can be formulated that will satisfy DOD concerns.  The MOBILE NOW Act also provides meaningful financial incentives to federal government agencies to return spectrum while also proposing more efficient uses of existing spectrum including inter-agency sharing.

It’s important to emphasize the rare degree of bi-partisanship thus far demonstrated on tackling the growing consumer need for spectrum.  HTTP is hopeful that the Senate can get the MOBILE NOW Act to markup before mid-December and before the partisan posturing of the Presidential and Congressional campaign season gets underway next year. 

HTTP believes that the Spectrum Pipeline Act (already passed) and the MOBILE NOW Act are extraordinarily important.  It takes at least a decade to locate, reallocate and get additional spectrum to auction.  The spectrum auctions scheduled for next year are the only ones currently planned by the FCC. Knowing this, it’s clear why such disparate organizations and individuals on both ends of the political spectrum agree on the common need. Scoring the money to be realized by spectrum auctions is relatively easy compared to scoring the full economic weight of a spectrum deficit. However, it is frankly worthy of consideration if only to spur Congress and the Administration to act.

Congress has passed an important piece of spectrum legislation and another awaits action.  We hope that Congress can do the right thing by passing a good MOBILE NOW Act, well, now.  

Chavez is a former three-term mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico, a New Mexico state senator and is currently a senior adviser to HTTP, an organization representing 19 national Latino organizations.