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.
