Unlicensed on the Hill: Highlights of the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s 5G Hearing
The House Energy & Commerce Committee held a hearing last week titled “5G And Beyond: Exploring the Next Wireless Frontier.” Committee members heard testimony from key industry leaders, broadband experts and policy advisors on America’s wireless future and the benefits of the increasingly mobile economy.
Witnesses included Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at CTIA Scott Bergmann, Senior Director of Government Affairs at Cisco Systems Mary Brown, Director of Government Affairs at Public Knowledge Greg Guice, Global Executive Director of Product and Digital Infrastructure Policy at Intel Corporation Jayne Stancavage and Chief Executive of Corporate Strategy and Analytics at HTC Inc. Von Todd.
Witnesses Testify at the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s 5G Hearing
The hearing focused on various topics including the importance of the mid-band spectrum pipeline, deployment of 5G, next-generation Wi-Fi, future wireless technologies and how improved interagency coordination will lead to better management of our nation’s airwaves.
While the hearing was packed with various perspectives, some key ideas stood out.
Renewing the FCC’s auction authority:
There was a consensus amongst all five of the witnesses that the FCC’s spectrum auction authority must be extended. This is an urgent ask, as its authority expires on September 30 of this year.
Using revenue from spectrum auctions:
Guice: Congress should renew the auction authority and support public interest needs. The committee should consider how auction revenues could advance public interest objectives such as digital equity, as Public Knowledge and other coalitions have supported as a part of our Airwaves for Equity campaign.
5G: It’s a mix of technologies
Brown: The demand for wireless technology continues to rise. That is not to say 5G is not important, it is vitally important. From a consumer perspective, what we are going to see is more of a convergence of the two ecosystems at hand. This is going to be to the benefit of the American consumer.
Mid-band is king:
Todd: Mid-band spectrum is critical to us for propigation and speed. Consumers would lose out without access to this technology.
Bergmann: The 7 GHz is a huge band, with important federal systems there. But we also have the opportunity to be more efficient. That spectrum has been studied since 2017. We’d love to see that included in a spectrum pipeline bill.
Rebuilding the spectrum management process:
Bergmann: The process broke down with the C-Band altimeter debate. We’re thinking about improving coordination, such as with the spectrum coordination initiative. We are hopeful that coordination has improved and leads to making more science-based decisions. We need to raise concerns early so we can plan for those concerns early on.
Do we have enough spectrum?:
Brown: We’re already rolling out the 6 GHz band and a second generation technology known as Wi-Fi 7. This is coming our way in two years’ time. With demand continuing to go up, we do need to look for other opportunities including spectrum at the very low end of the 7 GHz range.
5G:
Bergmann: Congress needs to expand the FCC’s auction authority because it’s critical for addressing 5G and the coordination issues you referenced. This committee is our nation’s spectrum expert and we look to you to lead.