I 
107TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2535 
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 
JULY 17, 2001 
Mr. STEARNS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and 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— 
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(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, except that in areas des-
ignated by the Commission as Rural Service Areas 
(RSA’s) licensees may hold attributable interests in 
a total of no more than 55 megahertz; 
(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; 
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(6) 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; 
(7) providers of commercial mobile services will 
need additional spectrum to keep pace with the con-
tinued growth of mobile telephony and the demand 
for new advanced mobile services; 
(8) the application of the current spectrum cap 
rules to new spectrum auctions by the Federal Com-
munications Commission would greatly impede the 
deployment of advanced mobile services, and would 
threaten the global competitiveness of U.S. industry; 
(9) 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 
(10) 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. 
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SEC. 
3. 
PROHIBITION 
ON 
SPECTRUM 
AGGREGATION 
LIMITS. 
Section 332(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 
(47 U.S.C. 332(c)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(9) SPECTRUM
AGGREGATION
LIMITATIONS 
PROHIBITED.—The Commission shall not impose 
any limitation on spectrum aggregation for licenses 
for commercial mobile radio services. Any limitation 
on spectrum aggregation for commercial mobile 
radio services in the regulations of the Commission 
(including 47 C.F.R. 20.6 or any successor regula-
tion), and any limitation on such aggregation con-
tained in any license or other authorization for such 
service, or in any competitive bidding proceeding for 
any such license or authorization, shall cease to be 
effective on the date of enactment of this para-
graph.’’. 
Æ 
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