Congress wants to open up vast troves of federal airwaves for your cell phone

Congress wants to open up even more spectrum to meet that demand for wireless data, by looking to the vast swaths of radio frequencies controlled by the federal government.

A bill from Reps Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Brett Guthrie (R-KY) will seek to do just that. In the Senate, Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Ed Markey (D-MA) are introducing an identical bill. The resulting auction of government airwaves could be a boon for industry, consumers and federal coffers. "This legislation would create the first-ever incentive auction for federal agencies and -- for once -- offer revenue to federal spectrum users," said Rep Matsui. "It is a game-changer." The legislation, which was previously considered in the last Congress and has backing from key committee lawmakers such as Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), directs the Federal Communications Commission to set up a sale of federal spectrum. And there's a lot of it.