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July 21, 2010

The U.S. Congress is mulling over new rules towards wireless spectrum utilization that could impact all mobile operators if it goes into law.

Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and John Kerry (D-Massachussets) will soon introduce the Spectrum Measurement and Policy Reform Act, a proposed new legislation aimed at modernizing radio spectrum planning in the United States. It could also affect the management and some spectrum coordination activities at the FCC.

Snowe and Kerry, senior members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and longtime supporters of wireless spectrum reform, designed the proposed new legislation to complement the FCC's National Broadband Plan.

According to a press release, the new legislation would create a mandate for a full spectrum inventory.

The new bill would also require greater collaboration between the FCC and the NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) on spectrum policy and management related issues, implementation of wireless spectrum sharing and reuse programs, as well as more market-based incentives to promote efficient spectrum use.

The proposed new legislation would also set a deadline for the creation of the National Strategic Spectrum Plan, which will provide a long-term vision for domestic spectrum use and strategies in the U.S.

Snowe said in a statement "This legislation will lay the groundwork to develop a strong and effective 21st century comprehensive spectrum policy that will provide wireless users with additional choices, greater innovation, lower prices and more reliable services."

"Our nation's airwaves are not unlimited resources, and we need to use them as efficiently as possible," Kerry added.

Last month, the Democratic majority voted in favor of an NOI (Notice of Inquiry). Initial comments are due July 15 and reply comments are due Aug. 12th.

The NOI asks for comments on whether the FCC should continue to regulate broadband under Title 1 regulations.

Whether the agency should pursue Title 2 authority, a light regulatory touch often referred to as the “third way” or any other ideas of how to regulate broadband Internet.

FCC commissioner Mygnon Clyburn, in voting for the NOI, said wireless services are subject to a nearly identical set of regulations similar to the “third way” proposal and has thrived under a parallel paradigm.

But others disagree.

Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker dissented on the NOI, saying that even initiating the proceeding creates significant consequences. “This is the rare case where opening a proceeding creates so much regulatory uncertainty” that it harms investment potential, she said.

Furthermore, Baker said she is worried that the outcome of the NOI has been pre-judged and citing the following statements: The NOI comes as the result of the U.S. Court of Appeals' ruling in April that the FCC lacked the authority to demand that Internet service providers like Comcast have to offer equal access to anyone who wants to connect to their network.

The case dates back over three years ago, when Comcast started blocking some peer-to-peer networking applications that it said consumed too much network bandwidth.

Some opponents believed Comcast was degrading traffic in 2007 from BitTorrent because it competed against Comcast's on-demand video offering.

Two net-neutrality proponents, Public Knowledge and Free Press, complained to the FCC that the ISP shouldn't be able to decide which applications should run on the network.

Comcast later complied with the FCC recommendations but pursued the case in court.

In yesterday's meeting, Copps scorned how the FCC has not regulated broadband services to the detriment of consumers and to the pleasure of a few big players "who never liked the telecommunicatins law passed by Congress” and a previous commission willing to sacrifice the public interest.

"Throw into this bubbling cauldron of trouble one subsequent FCC decision after another to grant big industry players forbearance from their legal requirements to promote competition and consumer choices and you begin to get the picture of how we spent the bulk of the past decade around here, and not going anywhere with any of this."

In closing, Copps added that the FCC should not bow to a few powerful companies whose triple play includes the FCC's broadband authority, gut the National Broadband Plan and kill the open Internet as we know it today.

Copps said he is keeping an open mind and doesn't have a specific timeline for next moves after comments are received on the NOI.

Strong opponents to the NOI say the Internet should be left open the way it is today and that the FCC or any other government agency shouldn't have any say in how the 'Net should or should not be regulated in any way.

And some that are even more strongly opposed to this are saying that the Internet shouldn't even be regulated at all and left open forever.

We will keep you posted on this and other developments as they happen.

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Source: The U.S. Congress.