Ex-NTIA Acting Head Gomez Backs 18-Month FCC Spectrum Authority Extension

Wiley’s Anna Gomez, former acting NTIA administrator, backed the Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783) and two NTIA-focused spectrum bills in written testimony ahead of a Tuesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing (see 2205170081). HR-7783 is one of five wireless-focused bills House Communications will examine during the Tuesday hearing. The others are: the Ensuring Phone and Internet Access for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Recipients Act (HR-4275), the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act (HR-4990), the Simplifying Management, Reallocation and Transfer of Spectrum Act (HR-5486), and the Safe Connections Act (HR-7132). The partly virtual hearing will begin at 11 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

Gomez lauded House Communications lawmakers for “reaching the compromise to extend the FCC’s auction authority” via HR-7783, which would renew the commission’s remit for 18 months to March 31, 2024. Subpanel Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, back the measure (see 2205190068). “Congress’s extension of the FCC’s spectrum auction authority is of paramount importance to ensure the ongoing availability of airwaves to support innovative mobile broadband services as well as the continuation of efficient spectrum management,” Gomez said. House Communications must, once Congress enacts HR-7783, ensure the FCC and NTIA use the 18-month extension to “produce a national spectrum strategy that identifies additional spectrum bands for repurposing for the next decade.”

HR-4990, which would provide statutory authority for ITS’ role in managing NTIA’s telecom and spectrum technology programs, would “further support spectrum management initiatives by the FCC and NTIA,” Gomez said. ITS “provides valuable research and analysis to inform NTIA’s Office of Spectrum Management as it works to identify additional spectrum efficiencies and potential opportunities to increase spectrum access for all users. Furthermore, its research and expertise are fundamental in making spectrum available for commercial use as well as for identifying spectrum sharing opportunities among both Federal and commercial entities.”

HR-5486, which would require NTIA to develop and implement a standardized framework for facilitating spectrum sharing between federal and nonfederal users (see 2110060073), would “provide NTIA with the tools and flexibility necessary to fulfill its mission as the manager of the Federal government’s use of spectrum,” Gomez said. “It makes the sharing regime more transparent by requiring an incumbent Federal entity sharing a spectrum band to input information regarding the frequency, time, and location of their use of the band, while providing for proper protection of classified information.”

Gomez urged lawmakers to follow FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s suggestion that Congress “update the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act (CSEA) to make it even more effective for repurposing spectrum” as a way to improve “the existing spectrum allocation processes.” CSEA “is an effective tool,” but “there is room for improvement,” Gomez said. “For example, Congress can further incentivize Federal agencies clearing spectrum by ensuring that a full range of costs, including up-front planning, technology development, and staffing to support the relocation effort, are covered by the Spectrum Relocation Fund. Congress can also sweeten the incentives by removing the limitation currently placed on agencies subject to relocation to modernize their spectrum usage.”

Alisa Valentin, National Urban League senior director-tech and telecom policy, in her written testimony didn’t take a position on HR-7783 or other spectrum-related measures but urged Congress to consider “using proceeds from spectrum auctions to fund digital equity efforts.” Spectrum auction proceeds “should support a number of digital inclusion activities including affordable high-speed internet for low-income consumers, digital navigators who can engage communities without connectivity, digital skills training, internet-enabled devices, and outreach and awareness efforts to inform eligible households of existing broadband affordability and digital equity programs,” Valentin said. “Spectrum auction winners should be encouraged or incentivized to hire from underrepresented communities beyond entry level positions, establish diversity hiring goals, and increase supplier diversity.”

CommScope Business Development and Spectrum Policy Director Mark Gibson is also expected to testify on HR-7783 and related policy matters, but his written testimony wasn’t available Monday afternoon. Jeffrey Westling, tech and innovation policy director-American Action Forum, urged Congress in a Monday post to enact “a short-term extension” of the FCC’s authority of up to two years “to give lawmakers time to develop a spectrum pipeline plan.” The new “spectrum pipeline could then be tied to a longer, 10-year extension,” he said. “With the conclusion of the 2.5 GHz auction later this year, the FCC’s spectrum pipeline is essentially exhausted, and additional bandwidth will need to be reallocated away from incumbent operators.”

University of Georgia School of Law assistant professor Thomas Kadri used his written testimony to back HR-7132. That bill and Senate-passed companion S-120 would let domestic abuse survivors separate a mobile phone line from any shared plan involving their abusers without penalties or other requirements and require the FCC to establish rules that ensure calls and texts to domestic abuse hotlines don’t appear on call logs (see 2203180070). The measure “would set a good foundation from which further regulatory efforts could build,” Kadri said.

The FCC “would be empowered to enforce" HR-7132's "protections and protect victims’ interests,” Kadri said. “The exploration of rules requiring phone companies to omit any communications with domestic-violence hotlines from phone records is also a wise idea, as is the expansion of eligibility for the FCC’s Lifeline program.” He believes “that victims should be able to leave family plans without providing third-party documentation,” but “it is encouraging that the Act would require phone companies to treat all evidence of abuse as confidential and to dispose of it securely.”