Senators to tackle barriers to mobile broadband

The Senate Commerce Committee will convene a hearing on Wednesday to examine the “barriers” to the deployment of wireless broadband Internet service.

It’s the second in a series of hearings the panel is holding on mobile broadband as it prepares to roll out a bill enacting reforms to the way that wireless spectrum, the frequencies that carry signals to and from mobile devices, is managed.

{mosads}“For Americans in rural communities, access to technological innovation is increasingly dependent on the availability of robust wireless networks,” said committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.). “This hearing will examine barriers, regulatory and otherwise, to the deployment of wireless broadband facilities, infrastructure, and service.”

In July, the committee held a hearing on spectrum policy where lawmakers focused primarily on how to best enable the government to give some of its significant spectrum holdings to the private sector.

The government maintains significant spectrum reserves for things such as radar and radio astronomy. Wireless carriers, however, say that they have a growing need for spectrum as more Americans make use of smartphones and consume significant amounts of data.

The Senate hearing will coincide with a hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee focusing on federal spectrum.

How to manage the growing demand for wireless spectrum has become a hotly debated question in Washington. Next year, the Federal Communications Commission will hold a first-of-its-kind auction in which the agency will buy spectrum from broadcasters and sell it back to wireless providers.

But with no auctions scheduled after that, wireless carriers are fretting over whether they will be able to meet demand using their existing spectrum.