II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1824

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to enhance the efficient use

of spectrum by non-Federal Government users.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 28, 1999

Mr. BREAUX (for himself and Mr. GORTON) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,

Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to enhance the

efficient use of spectrum by non-Federal Government users.

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 ‘‘Private Wireless Spec5 trum Use Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) Competent management of the electro9 magnetic radio spectrum includes continued avail10 ability of spectrum for private wireless entities be-
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1 cause of such entities’ unique ability to achieve sub2 stantial efficiencies in their use of this important

3 and finite public resource. A private wireless system

4 licensee or entity is able to customize communica5 tions systems to meet the individual needs of that li6 censee or end user while using engineering solutions

7 and other cooperative arrangements to share spec8 trum with other private system licensees and entities

9 without causing harmful interference or other deg10 radation of quality or reliability to such other licens11 ees or entities. Accordingly, spectrum allocations for

12 the shared use of private wireless systems achieve a

13 high level of spectrum use efficiency and contribute

14 to the economic and social welfare of the United

15 States.

16 (2) Wireless communication systems dedicated

17 to the internal communication needs of America’s in18 dustrial, land transportation, energy (including utili19 ties and pipelines), and other business enterprises

20 are critical to the competitiveness of American in21 dustry and business in international commerce; in22 crease corporate productivity; enhance the safety

23 and welfare of employees; and improve the delivery

24 of products and services to consumers in the United

25 States and abroad.
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1 (3) During the past decade, the Federal Com2 munications Commission allocation and licensing

3 policies have led to dramatic increases in spectrum

4 available for commercial mobile radio services while

5 the spectrum available for private mobile radio sys6 tems has decreased, even though the Commission

7 recognizes the spectrum use efficiencies and other

8 public benefits of such private systems and the sub9 stantial increases in the use of such systems.

10 (4) Spectrum auctions are designed to select

11 among competing applications for spectrum licenses

12 when engineering solutions, negotiation, threshold

13 qualifications, service regulations, and other coopera14 tive means employed by the Commission are not able

15 to prevent mutual exclusivity among such applica16 tions. Private wireless systems, on the other hand,

17 avoid mutual exclusivity through cooperative, mul18 tiple uses generally achieved by the Commission, the

19 users, or the frequency advisory committees. Accord20 ingly, the requirements of such private wireless sys21 tems are accommodated within the spectrum bands

22 allocated for private uses. Since there is no mutual

23 exclusivity among private wireless system applica24 tions, there is no need for the Commission to employ

25 a mechanism, such as auctions, to select among ap-
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1 plications. Auction valuation principles also do not

2 apply to the private wireless licensing process be3 cause the private wireless spectrum is not used on

4 a commercial, interconnected basis. Rather, such

5 private allocations are used for internal communica6 tions applications to enhance safety, efficiency and

7 productivity. Nonetheless, there should be some pay8 ment associated with the assignment of new private

9 wireless spectrum, and the Commission can and

10 should develop a payment mechanism for this pur11 pose.

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

13 Section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

14 U.S.C. 153) is amended—

15 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (33) through

16 (52) as paragraph (35) through (54); and

17 (2) by inserting after paragraph (32) the fol18 lowing:

19 ‘‘(33) PRIVATE WIRELESS SYSTEM.—The term

20 ‘private wireless system’ means an infrastructure of

21 telecommunications equipment and customer prem22 ises equipment that is owned by, and operated solely

23 to meet the internal wireless communication needs

24 of, an industrial, business, transportation, education,
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1 or energy (including utilities and pipelines) entity, or

2 other licensee.

3 ‘‘(34) PRIVATE WIRELESS PROVIDER.—The

4 term ‘private wireless provider’ means an entity that

5 owns, operates, or manages an infrastructure of tele6 communications equipment and customer premises

7 equipment that is—

8 ‘‘(A) used solely for the purpose of meeting

9 the internal communications needs of another

10 entity that is an industrial, business, transpor11 tation, education, or energy (including utilities

12 and pipelines) entity, or similar end-user;

13 ‘‘(B) neither a commercial mobile service

14 (as defined in section 332(d)(1)) nor used to

15 provide public safety services (as defined in sec16 tion 337(f)(1)); and

17 ‘‘(C) not interconnected with the public

18 switched network.’’.

19 SEC. 4. ALLOCATION AND ASSIGNMENT OF ADDITIONAL

20 SPECTRUM.

21 Part I of title III of the Communications Act of 1934

22 (47 U.S.C. 301) is amended by inserting after section 337

23 the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 338. ALLOCATION AND ASSIGNMENT OF SPECTRUM

2 FOR PRIVATE WIRELESS USES.

3 ‘‘(a) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—Within 120 days

4 after the date of enactment of the Private Wireless Spec5 trum Use Act, the Commission shall initiate a rulemaking

6 designed to identify and allocate at least 12 megahertz of

7 electromagnetic spectrum located between 150 and 2,000

8 megahertz for use by private wireless licensees on a

9 shared-use basis. The new spectrum proposed to be reallo10 cated shall be available and appropriate for use by private

11 wireless communications systems and shall accommodate

12 the need for paired allocations and for proximity to exist13 ing private wireless spectrum allocations. In accommo14 dating the various private wireless system needs in this

15 rulemaking, the Commission shall reserve at least 50 per16 cent of the reallocated spectrum for the use of private

17 wireless systems. The remaining reallocated spectrum

18 shall be available for use by private wireless providers sole19 ly for the purpose described in section 3(34)(A).

20 ‘‘(b) ORDER REQUIRED.—Within 180 days after the

21 Commission initiates the rulemaking required by sub22 section (a), the Commission, in consultation with its fre23 quency advisory committees, shall—

24 ‘‘(1) issue an order reallocating spectrum in ac25 cordance with subsection (a); and
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1 ‘‘(2) issue licenses for the reallocated spectrum

2 in a timely manner.’’.

3 SEC. 5. REIMBURSEMENT FOR ADDITIONAL SPECTRUM AL4 LOCATED FOR PRIVATE WIRELESS SYSTEM

5 USE.

6 Section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934

7 (47 U.S.C. 309 (j)) is amended by inserting after para8 graph (14) the following:

9 ‘‘(15) SPECTRUM EFFICIENCY FOR SHARED

10 SPECTRUM.—

11 ‘‘(A) Within 120 days after the date of en12 actment of the Private Wireless Spectrum Use

13 Act, the Commission shall initiate a rulemaking

14 to devise a schedule of payment to the Treasury

15 by private wireless systems, and by private

16 wireless providers for the purpose described in

17 section 3(34)(A), in return for a license or

18 other ability to use a portion of the spectrum

19 reallocated under section 338. The schedule

20 shall be designed to promote the efficient use of

21 those frequencies.

22 ‘‘(B) Within 180 days after the Commis23 sion initiates the rulemaking required by sub24 paragraph (A), the Commission, after consulta25 tion with its frequency advisory committees and
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1 after opportunity for comment, shall adopt a

2 schedule of payment in accordance with sub3 paragraph (A) and which it determines to be in

4 the public interest.

5 ‘‘(C) In adopting the schedule of payments

6 referred to in subparagraph (A), the

7 Commission—

8 ‘‘(i) may not base a finding of public

9 interest, convenience, and necessity on the

10 expectation of Federal revenues for the use

11 of such schedule of payment; and

12 ‘‘(ii) shall take into account the pri13 vate nature of the systems, the safety and

14 efficiencies realized by the public as a re15 sult of these private uses, the amount of

16 bandwidth and coverage area and geo17 graphic location of the license, and the de18 gree of frequency-sharing.’’.

19 SEC. 6. SPECTRUM SHARING

20 Section 309(j)(6) of the Communications Act of 1934

21 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(6)) is amended—

22 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph

23 (G);

24 (2) by striking ‘‘Act.’’ in subparagraph (H) and

25 inserting ‘‘Act; or’’; and
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1 (3) by adding at the end the following:

2 ‘‘(I) be construed to permit the Commis3 sion to take any action to create mutual exclu4 sivity where it does not already exist.’’.

5 SEC. 7. CONFORMING AND TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

6 (a) PRIVATE MOBILE SERVICE.—Section 332(d) of

7 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d)) is

8 amended—

9 (1) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in

10 paragraph (1);

11 (2) by striking ‘‘(c)(1)(B); and’’ in paragraph

12 (2) and inserting ‘‘(c)(1)(B).’’; and

13 (3) by striking paragraph (3).

14 (b) APPLICATION OF SPECTRUM-USE PAYMENT

15 SCHEDULE TO NEW LICENSES.—Section 337(a)(2) of the

16 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 337(a)(2)) is

17 amended by inserting ‘‘or spectrum use payment sched18 ule’’ after ‘‘competitive bidding’’.

19 (c) EXEMPTION FROM COMPETITIVE BIDDING.—Sec20 tion 309(j)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

21 U.S.C. 309(j)(2)) is amended—

22 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph

23 (B);

24 (2) by striking ‘‘Act.’’ in subparagraph (C) and

25 inserting ‘‘Act; or’’; and
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1 (3) by adding at the end thereof the following:

2 ‘‘(D) for private wireless systems, and for

3 private wireless providers for the purpose de4 scribed in section 3(34)(A), that—

5 ‘‘(i) are used to enhance the produc6 tivity or safety of business or industry; and

7 ‘‘(ii) are not made commercially avail8 able to the public, except for that pur9 pose.’’.

10 (d) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 271(c)(1)(A)

11 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.

12 271(c)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘3(47)(A),’’ and in13 serting ‘‘3(49)(A),’’.

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