Posted December 18, 2013
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has introduced a bill that would provide a program for large wireless carriers make unused spectrum available for rural carriers, according to an Agri-Pulse article available here.
Rural Broadband Association CEO, Shirley Bloomfield, said the association supports the bill which is co-sponsored by Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE).
The bill, S. 1776, would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to “provide a program under which a carrier can choose to partition its license in order to make unused spectrum available to small carriers – those with 1,500 employees or fewer – or carriers serving a rural area.” A carrier “that partitions its license under the program receives a three-year extension of its license.”
Bloomfield said, “The wireless market is incredibly consolidated with two carriers already holding 78 percent of the country’s low-frequency, broadband-capable spectrum and accounting for more than 80 percent of the wireless industry revenues.”
The term “spectrum” typically refers to the part of electromagnetic spectrum that corresponds to a certain type of frequency.
For more information on spectrum policy, a recent report titled “Spectrum Policy in the Age of Broadband: Issues for Congress” by Linda K. Moore is available on the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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