Chairman Thune Signals Return of MOBILE NOW Act

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) says that, in concert with Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL), he is putting the finishing touches on his bill to boost development of 5G wireless broadband service at potentially multiple-gigabit speeds in competition to cable broadband. Speaking at a CTIA 5G conference, Chairman Thune said that he has been working on a new draft of the MOBILE NOW (Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless) Act, which he hoped to be able to introduce later during the week of Feb 8. The bill has been in the works for a while but was pulled from a planned markup last fall.

He said the bill would "insure that hundreds of megahertz of spectrum would be made available for commercial use by 2020," which he pointed out was about the same time the 5G standard could be rolled out. He said the bill would "cut through much of the bureaucratic red tape that makes it difficult to build wireless facilities on federal properties." It would also "direct the Federal Communications Commission to streamline regulations affecting small-cell networks." Chairman Thune said that perhaps most importantly, the bill would push the FCC to examine millimeter wave (high-frequency bands) to determine which are most useful for 5G. He said those would be the most critical for delivering the multi-gigabit high speed broadband service.