FCC Given Four Years to Inventory Spectrum

House Energy & Commerce Committee passes spectrum inventory bill by voice vote

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/10/2010 11:37:05 AM

It looks like broadcasters could get more breathing room from the specter of government spectrum band-clearing for mobile broadband.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee Wednesday (March 10) passed the spectrum inventory bill by voice vote with an amendment that lengthens from two to four years the time in which the FCC and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration are required to make recommendations to Congress about spectrum reallocation or sharing. As amended, it also puts more emphasis on looking beyond the broadcast band to other spectrum.

H.R. 3125, the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act, requires the FCC and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration to conduct an inventory of how spectrum is being used, by whom and how efficiently.

House Communications & Internet Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Rick Boucher, who co-sponsored the bill, said the new four-year time frame was "in recognition that the agencies simply need time in order to perform the complex evaluations that will undermine these evaluations."

The bill as originally introduced would have provided for a wider spectrum inventory beyond 225 MHz-3.7 GHz only if its benefits justified the extra cost. As amended, the FCC and NTIA would have to explain why the benefit would outweigh the cost.

Boucher has said he expects the FCC to wait until that inventory is completed to take any steps to reclaim spectrum from broadcasters, which FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has signaled will be part of the national broadband plan. 

The bill was also amended to give the National Security Council a consultative role on determining what inventory information should not be made public due to national security, and to recognize the importance of spectrum for military uses.  The latter is consistent with predictions that it could be tough to reclaim spectrum from the military. That came after a letter from the Obama administration to the committee this week with concerns about protecting sensitive information.

It would also allow agency heads to decide that disclosures about private spectrum holders could be withheld.

Also passed by voice vote was a companion bill, HR 3019, which requires the NTIA to come up with a transition plan for future spectrum band-clearing auctions. That follows problems with government users failing to clear out in a timely fashion after the government had collected billions from private users for the spectrum.

The markup also included passage of a bill to allow the FCC to prohibit caller ID spoofing, in which callers mask their numbers or appear to be calling from another number.

The spectrum bills, which Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said are among the most important coming out of the committee this year, now head to the floor for a vote.