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FCC Chief Tells Lawmakers Spectrum Inventory is Underway
7/14/2010
WASHINGTON: Federal
Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said work had already
started on a
radio frequency spectrum inventory. He made the comments in a letter delivered
today to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Sen.
John Kerry (D-Mass.).
Both lawmakers support a bill requiring such an inventory. Kerry introduced
S.649 in March following the FCC’s revelation it intended to
reallocate 120 MHz
of broadcast TV spectrum for wireless broadband. S.649, the “Radio
Spectrum
Inventory Act,” was passed by the Senate Commerce Committee July 8
and awaits a
floor vote.
Kerry and Rockefeller wrote to Genachowski, urging him to start a spectrum
inventory in the meantime. He said it was underway, even though a recent
directive from President Obama authorized the FCC to reallocate spectrum
without doing an inventory.
“I agree that developing a complete survey of the nation’s
existing spectrum
allocation, assignment, and utilization is imperative and commission staff have
begun work to create such an inventory,” Genachowski wrote.
He said he’d met with officials in the Commerce Department to
coordinate an inventory
effort.
“In order to move as expeditiously as possible in response to your
request, I
have already met with Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and
Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling,” Genachowski
said. “We
discussed our mutual commitment to spectrum policy that meets our
nation’s
forward-looking needs. More specifically, we agreed to coordinate
inter-governmental efforts to generate a comprehensive spectrum
inventory.”
In response to Genachowski’s letter,
FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker issued the following statement:
“I am very pleased the chairman has indicated his intention to
proceed with an
inventory of commercial spectrum in the U.S. I fully support this important
initiative. I believe a comprehensive commercial spectrum inventory is critical
to the development of spectrum policies to drive innovation, investment and
deployment of state-of-the art-wireless networks and technologies in the coming
years.
“I also hope that the inventory can be completed as quickly as
possible and
form the foundation for a comprehensive spectrum database. I will seek to
ensure that the inventory’s outputs are coordinated with and useful
to other
government agencies and especially that they are easily accessible to potential
innovators and entrepreneurs.”
-- Deborah D. McAdams
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