press release

The Commission adopted a Report and Order that advances ongoing efforts to make more spectrum available for flexible use wireless services, including mobile broadband.

The Report and Order represents significant progress in the Commission’s ongoing effort to make available and promote efficient use of spectrum, including through sharing.

Access to these bands will help wireless companies meet growing consumer demand for mobile data by enabling faster wireless speeds and more capacity. Specifically, the Report and Order sets flexible-use regulatory, licensing, and technical rules for 65 megahertz of spectrum in the AWS-3 band, which includes the 1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz, and 2155-2180 MHz bands.

The Report and Order establishes a band plan that makes spectrum available in a mix of spectrum block and geographic license area sizes to meet the needs of large and small wireless providers. The Report and Order also establishes construction deadlines and other service rules, including a requirement that AWS-3 devices be interoperable within AWS-3 and AWS-1 frequencies. The Report and Order is the result of years of work across multiple federal agencies and in coordination with industry stakeholders to make 40 megahertz (of the total 65 megahertz) of the AWS-3 spectrum available for commercial use.

This spectrum will be available on a shared basis with federal incumbents in accordance with detailed plans for these agencies to relocate out of the frequencies or share within the frequencies. Chairman Wheeler, Commissioners Clyburn and Rosenworcel, with Commissioners Pai and O’Rielly approving in part and concurring in part. Chairman Wheeler, Commissioners Clyburn, Rosenworcel, Pai and O’Rielly issued statements.

The sixth ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-14) opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with a call to achieve universal broadband connectivity.

Under the theme ‘Broadband for Sustainable Development’, the conference will focus on development priorities in telecommunications and information and communication technologies (ICT) and agree on the programmes, projects and initiatives to implement them. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of the United Arab Emirates and Head of the UAE delegation was elected Chairman of the Conference. He noted that the focus on the theme ‘Broadband for Sustainable Development’ brings attention to the critical aspect of leading edge ICT in enhancing a nation’s development.

“Since the beginning of this Millennium, mobile cellular subscriptions have continued to rise, social media usage has rocketed, and an ever increasing number of people across the globe have been able to access the Internet, making use of the immeasurable quantity of information that greater connectivity provides,” said Al Ghanim. “Yet one of the most persisting concerns that face us all is the ‘digital divide’. Serious practical solutions are required to close the gap and stem this endemic inequality of access.” “ICTs, and in particular broadband networks, offer perhaps the greatest opportunity we have ever had to make rapid and profound advances in global social and economic development,” said ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré. “By delivering efficiencies across so many areas, from education and healthcare to transportation, water and energy, broadband networks can quickly pay for themselves, creating a virtuous circle of investment, productivity and human development.”

One of the expected outcomes of WTDC-14 is the Dubai Action Plan -- which will set the agenda for telecommunication and information and communication technologies development over the next four years. The dialogue, which will shape the future of the telecommunication and ICT sector and its contribution to social and economic development, will focus on:

• Sound policies and regulatory frameworks that will foster investment and further develop telecom/ICT networks
• Improved access to ICT applications to provide people with services such as education, health, and empower them with the means to achieve sustainable development
• Increased safety and security in the use of telecoms/ICTs
• Capacity building in the area of ICTs
• Emergency telecommunications

Access to broadband could be the universal catalyst that lifts developing countries out of poverty and puts access to health care, education and basic social services within reach of all, according to the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development.

The Commission reiterated its call to International community to recognize the transformational potential of high-speed networks and ensure broadband penetration targets are specifically included in the UN post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. It also urged governments and international financing bodies to work to remove current barriers to investment.

Globally, as much as 95% of telecommunications infrastructure is private sector-funded, but better incentives are urgently needed if investment is to expand in line with the coming exponential growth of connected users and so-called ‘Internet of Things’ data streams. In the world’s 200 biggest cities, the number of connected devices is forecast to increase from an average of 400 devices per square kilometer to over 13,000 devices per square kilometer by 2016.

The United States is deeply concerned that the Turkish government has blocked its citizens’ access to basic communication tools.

We oppose this restriction on the Turkish people’s access to information, which undermines their ability to exercise freedoms of expression and association and runs contrary to the principles of open governance that are critical to democratic governance and the universal rights that the United States stands for around the world.

We have conveyed our serious concern to the Turkish government, urge Turkish authorities to respect the freedom of the press by permitting the independent and unfettered operation of media of all kinds, and support the people of Turkey in their calls to restore full access to the blocked technologies.

The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep Greg Walden (R-OR) has scheduled a markup to consider draft legislation to reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act.

The subcommittee will convene for opening statements only on March 24, 2014, at 5:30 p.m.

“This vote will be another step toward ensuring that the 1.5 million Americans who rely on satellite television services don’t lose access to major programming at the end of the year,” said Chairman Walden. “The draft legislation, which addresses a number of discrete issues raised over the course of the subcommittee’s year-long review, strikes the appropriate balance to improve the law without offering any fundamental changes to the marketplace, which are best left to our work toward a Communications Act update. I look forward to working with the rest of the subcommittee to advance this must-pass legislation next week.”

A Government Spectrum Ownership Corporation (GSOC) should be established to lease spectrum to government agencies, much in the same way as the General Services Administration (GSA) does with real estate, explain Thomas Lenard and Lawrence White in comments filed with the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The goal would be to provide incentives for government agencies to economize on spectrum use and free up spectrum for the private sector.

In their comments, Lenard, TPI President and Senior Fellow, and White, Robert Kavesh Professor of Economics at the NYU Stern School of Business, also recommend that spectrum allocation decisions should be a more integral part of the annual Office of Management and Budget (OMB) budgeting process. OMB should require any government agency that has a spectrum allocation to provide an annual accounting of that agency’s use of that spectrum. OMB should have a heightened awareness of spectrum as a scarce resource and should routinely search for under-utilized spectrum that could be auctioned by the FCC. In essence, OMB should become a skeptical auditor of government-held spectrum, its use, and its opportunity costs.

Free Press and 41 freedom of speech, open government, journalism and public interest groups sent a letter urging Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to reclassify broadband access services to protect freedom of expression online.

Released during Sunshine Week, the letter outlines the critical role Net Neutrality plays in guaranteeing that Americans can speak and publish freely: “The open Internet is our main conduit for freedom of expression and information. It is our library, our printing press, our delivery truck and our town square,” the letter reads. “Free speech depends on access to open and nondiscriminatory platforms for that speech. Without such principles governing online networks, we cannot guarantee the exercise of this most fundamental right.”

Representing millions of Americans, the groups include the American Civil Liberties Union, Free Press, the Government Accountability Project, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, PEN American Center, the Project on Government Oversight, Reporters Without Borders, the Society for Professional Journalists, the Sunlight Foundation and the Writers Guild of America East.

Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron said: “We can’t separate Internet freedom from press freedom. Our rights to connect and communicate are inextricably linked. So the fight for freedom of expression must include fighting for a future where no gatekeeper -- corporation or government — can block or discriminate online. For FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the path forward is clear.

"We can’t settle for anything less than reclassifying broadband services. As more and more of our journalism, civic information and democratic participation move online, we have to ensure that Internet service providers can’t meddle with the networks that enable the freedoms we hold so dear.”

On March 31, the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote on a proposal to restrict television broadcasters’ use of joint sales agreements (JSAs).

But the FCC currently doesn’t have the basic facts about JSAs. For example, the Office of Commissioner Ajit Pai (Office) asked how many JSAs there are in the United States among television stations and how many television stations owned by women and minorities participate in JSAs. Today, we still don’t have the answers to either of these fundamental questions. To partially fill this gap, the Office investigated whether there is a link between joint sales agreements and ownership diversity. Using publicly available sources, we estimate that:

• 43% of female-owned full-power commercial television stations currently are parties to JSAs.
• 75% of African-American-owned full-power commercial television stations currently are parties to JSAs.

“These findings raise serious questions,” Commissioner Pai said. “Why is the FCC targeting pro-competitive sharing arrangements that appear to disproportionately benefit female and African- American broadcasters? If the Commission forces broadcasters to terminate JSAs, how will that affect diversity? Why is the FCC rushing to a vote rather than taking the time to gather basic facts and study the effect of its proposal on ownership diversity? The Commission should not accelerate the troubling trend of declining minority ownership.”

Sen Al Franken (D-MN), who recently came out in opposition to Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable, continued to raise concerns about its potential impact on consumers.

The deal, he said, could jeopardize the open nature of the Internet by tilting the balance of power from people to huge corporations. In a letter sent to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Sen Franken called the Internet a place where everyone can participate on equal footing. But, he said, the proposed deal would give Comcast-already the nation's dominant Internet service provider-even more leverage to manipulate Internet traffic to serve its own corporate interests.

"The Internet is an open marketplace where everyone can participate on equal footing, regardless of one's wealth or influence-and I believe that's the way it should be," Sen Franken wrote. "The Internet has been a platform for innovation and economic growth since its inception. It also has connected Americans in unprecedented ways, facilitating the free exchange of information and ideas. Simply put, the Internet belongs to the people, not to huge corporations. Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable could disrupt this balance of power, resulting in higher costs and fewer choices for consumers." Later, he added, "I am very concerned that Comcast could use its clout in the broadband market to dictate the content consumers receive and the prices they pay, and these concerns are only intensified by Comcast's proposal to acquire Time Warner Cable."

The April Open Meeting of the Federal Communications Commission has been rescheduled from Thursday, April 24, 2014 to Wednesday, April 23, 2014.