I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4758

To permit wireless carriers to obtain sufficient spectrum to meet the growing

demand for existing services and ensure that such carriers have the

spectrum they need to deploy fixed and advanced services, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 26, 2000

Mr. STEARNS (for himself, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. DEAL of Georgia,

Mr. EHRLICH, and Mr. ROGAN) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To permit wireless carriers to obtain sufficient spectrum

to meet the growing demand for existing services and

ensure that such carriers have the spectrum they need

to deploy fixed and advanced services, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Spectrum Resource

5 Assurance Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) the Federal Communications Commission’s

2 spectrum cap rule prevents any entity from holding

3 an attributable interest in a total of more than 45

4 megahertz of licensed cellular, broadband personal

5 communications service, and specialized mobile radio

6 spectrum regulated as commercial mobile radio serv7 ice in any geographic area;

8 (2) without sufficient spectrum, wireless car9 riers will face increasing difficulty in meeting the

10 growing demand for existing services;

11 (3) spectrum constraints will also impede the

12 deployment of fixed and advanced wireless services;

13 (4) by precluding wireless carriers from obtain14 ing sufficient spectrum to realize economies of scale

15 and scope, the spectrum cap could raise the costs of

16 offering wireless services;

17 (5) application of the spectrum cap in future

18 auctions will artificially limit the pool of eligible bid19 ders and possibly prevent the spectrum from being

20 distributed to the carrier or carriers who will make

21 the most efficient and productive use of it;

22 (6) while the Federal Communications Commis23 sion has decided not to apply its spectrum cap to the

24 UHF licenses that must be auctioned this year,

25 there are relatively few of these licenses and the
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1 availability of this spectrum will be delayed until in2 cumbent broadcasters are relocated;

3 (7) the wireless industry has experienced strong

4 growth and competitive development, with three5 quarters of Americans now having a choice of five or

6 more providers of wireless services;

7 (8) assignments of additional spectrum will be

8 needed to enable mobile operators to keep pace with

9 the continued growth of mobile telephony and the

10 demand for new Third Generation mobile systems

11 (hereinafter referred to as ‘‘3G’’) services;

12 (9) the application of the current spectrum cap

13 rules to new spectrum auctions by the Federal Com14 munications Commission would greatly impede the

15 deployment of 3G services, and would threaten the

16 global competitiveness of U.S. industry;

17 (10) the spectrum cap was originally adopted in

18 order to prevent the concentration of control over

19 spectrum in too few hands, but with competition in

20 the provision of wireless services now a reality, rigid

21 structural regulation like a spectrum cap is no

22 longer necessary to ensure a robust wireless market23 place; and

24 (11) the antitrust agencies’ review of mergers

25 between wireless carriers will prevent undue market
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1 concentration by wireless carriers, even in the ab2 sence of a spectrum cap.

3 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON SPECTRUM AGGREGATION LIM4 ITS.

5 The Federal Communications Commission—

6 (1) shall not apply any limit on spectrum aggre7 gation (including 47 C.F.R. 20.6(a) or any successor

8 regulation) to any license or other authorization for

9 commercial mobile radio service granted in any com10 petitive bidding proceeding held after January 1,

11 2000; and

12 (2) shall not apply any such limit to any subse13 quent application for the transfer or assignment of

14 a license described in paragraph (1).

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