NTIA's Strickling on The Communicators

National Telecommunications & Information Administration chief Larry Strickling will appear on this week's "The Communicators" on C-SPAN. He says the Obama Administration will offer a bill in the next Congress to provide funding for federal spectrum holders being eyed to give up or reduce their holdings.

"They would be greatly aided if they had resources to do upfront planning and R&D if necessary to be able to participate more fruitfully in this reallocation and relocation," he said. Strickling said that if a bill does not pass giving the Federal Communications Commission the authority to pay broadcasters to clear off spectrum, using proceeds from an auction of their spectrum, "it will certainly slow things down." "Things" in this case is freeing up 500 Mhz over the next ten years from private and government users for wireless broadband. He said that the FCC believes it has to have the that authority if it is to reclaim its targeted 120 Mhz from broadcasters if it is to reallocate "as robustly as it would like to."