President and CEO of PCIA, Jonathan Adelstein, and new PCIA member and President and Founder of Gray Beards Consulting, Jake MacLeod, hosted a conference call to discuss the 2015 legislative and regulatory priorities facing PCIA and the wireless infrastructure industry. Adelstein noted that PCIA members are considering a re-write of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. “We’re still working with members on what we would like to say,” Adelstein noted. “They made a lot of progress in 1996, and we need to make sure we don’t undo any of that. We don’t have the language fully fleshed out yet, but we have some good thoughts.” In addition to a re-wire of the Telecommunications Act, Adelstein and MacLeod discussed how current legislature would streamline the zoning process for towers proposed on federal land. About 28% of the 2.27 billion acres that make up the United States is owned by the Federal government, according to the Interior Department. PCIA has been working with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to ease the citing process.
Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) have been working on the Wi-Fi Innovation Act since last year, which will be presented to the 114th United States Congress very soon. The purpose of this bill is to promote unlicensed spectrum in the 5GHz band, to increase innovation and economic development. The bi-partisan legislation also urges the FCC to consider allowing Wi-Fi to bring Internet access to low-income areas. There is a clear and growing demand for increased availability of spectrum,” said Booker. “Senator Rubio and I came together on this legislation because we want to see this valuable resource made available for further use by the public. Not only does access to wireless broadband open the door for innovation and transformative new technologies, it helps bridge the digital divide that leaves too many low-income communities removed from the evolving technology landscape and the growing economic opportunities.” Adelstein commented, “The demand for wireless mobile data is continuing to explode. Yes, we need to allocate more spectrum – but that only addresses a fraction of what we need to be doing to spur greater wireless infrastructure deployment. PCIA will continue to work hand-in-glove with Congress, the FCC, and other federal, state, and local policymakers to embrace policies that facilitate the construction and upkeep of a world-class wireless broadband network,” Adelstein said. Continue reading here.
Last year, Congress passed the Efficient Use of Government Spectrum Act, which advanced some of the efforts PCIA had been working on. The Act allows for the reallocation of electromagnetic spectrum between the frequencies from 1755 to 1780 megahertz, which were then occupied by the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. The legislation also called, “to grant new initial licenses, subject to flexible-use service rules, for the use of such spectrum, paired with the spectrum between frequencies from 2155 to 2180 megahertz already designated for auction as part of the competitive bidding auctions.”
The auctions were another point of discussion during the conference call as some wondered if there will be more delays to the 2016 incentive auction. Adelstein hopes there will be no more delays as we need to get the spectrum online as quickly as possible. “Because of the time it takes to get spectrum online, even if the auction happens on the timetable, there will still be years before the spectrum is online,” Adelstein explained. “Broadcasters are looking more favorably on the incentive auction after seeing prices in the AWS-3 auction.” That auction raised over $44 billion, which was way more than anticipated, and really underscored the demand for the wireless spectrum.
The need for spectrum will really become apparent when 5G technology starts to be used. “The amount of spectrum that is coming online over the next five years isn’t nearly enough,” Adelstein said. He cited the recent Cisco report that explained mobile data usage is expected to increase seven fold by 2019. The PCIA continues to work with members of Congress to open up more spectrum, and ease zoning process so mobile and Internet connectivity can expand across the nation.
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