WASHINGTON—Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) plans to pursue spectrum reform legislation later this year, a move that comes as the mobile-phone industry renews its campaign to obtain radio frequencies from the Pentagon for third-generation wireless systems.
“It’s going to require some amount of time,” said a Burns aide. Burns is working with Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and others on spectrum reform. The Burns aide said the bill would be shaped by findings of a General Accounting Office spectrum report due out in July.
Burns also has drafted legislation that would penalize mobile-phone operators for continued delays in the deployment of location-based 911 service.
On a related front, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today introduced legislation to help rural telecom carriers secure frequencies in spectrum auctions held by the Federal Communications Commission.
It appears doubtful that a Burns spectrum reform bill would have much impact on the current spectrum tug-of–war between the wireless industry and the Department of Defense.
The Bush administration is expected to release the results of a 3G spectrum study later this spring. The wireless industry wants an additional 120 megahertz from the federal government for 3G services. But the Pentagon does not appear in any mood to relinquish frequencies as it fights the war on global terrorism.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Pentagon top brass told the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning that bandwidth is essential to network-centric operations for highly mobile military forces, like those fighting in Afghanistan.
