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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Spectrum Resource
Assurance Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) the Federal Communications Commission’s
spectrum cap rule prevents any entity from holding
an attributable interest in a total of more than 45
megahertz of licensed cellular, broadband personal
communications service, and specialized mobile radio
spectrum regulated as commercial mobile radio serv-
ice in any geographic area;
(2) without sufficient spectrum, wireless car-
riers will face increasing difficulty in meeting the
growing demand for existing services;
(3) spectrum constraints will also impede the
deployment of fixed and advanced wireless services;
(4) by precluding wireless carriers from obtain-
ing sufficient spectrum to realize economies of scale
and scope, the spectrum cap could raise the costs of
offering wireless services;
(5) application of the spectrum cap in future
auctions will artificially limit the pool of eligible bid-
ders and possibly prevent the spectrum from being
distributed to the carrier or carriers who will make
the most efficient and productive use of it;
(6) while the Federal Communications Commis-
sion has decided not to apply its spectrum cap to the
UHF licenses that must be auctioned this year,
there are relatively few of these licenses and the
availability of this spectrum will be delayed until in-
cumbent broadcasters are relocated;
(7) the wireless industry has experienced strong
growth and competitive development, with three-
quarters of Americans now having a choice of five or
more providers of wireless services;
(8) assignments of additional spectrum will be
needed to enable mobile operators to keep pace with
the continued growth of mobile telephony and the
demand for new Third Generation mobile systems
(hereinafter referred to as ‘‘3G’’) services;
(9) the application of the current spectrum cap
rules to new spectrum auctions by the Federal Com-
munications Commission would greatly impede the
deployment of 3G services, and would threaten the
global competitiveness of U.S. industry;
(10) the spectrum cap was originally adopted in
order to prevent the concentration of control over
spectrum in too few hands, but with competition in
the provision of wireless services now a reality, rigid
structural regulation like a spectrum cap is no
longer necessary to ensure a robust wireless market-
place; and
(11) the antitrust agencies’ review of mergers
between wireless carriers will prevent undue market
concentration by wireless carriers, even in the ab-
sence of a spectrum cap.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON SPECTRUM AGGREGATION LIM-
ITS.
The Federal Communications Commission—
(1) shall not apply any limit on spectrum aggre-
gation (including 47 C.F.R. 20.6(a) or any successor
regulation) to any license or other authorization for
commercial mobile radio service granted in any com-
petitive bidding proceeding held after January 1,
2000; and
(2) shall not apply any such limit to any subse-
quent application for the transfer or assignment of
a license described in paragraph (1).
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