Bipartisan Senate group urges better spectrum reform

A bipartisan group of four U.S. Senators released a letter to the Senate leadership January 9, urging "smart, inclusive spectrum reform." The letter came from John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, plus Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Jerry Moran (R-KS).

Last March, Senators Snowe and Senator Kerry introduced the Reforming Airwaves by Developing Incentives and Opportunistic Sharing (RADIOS) Act, which proposes ways to reallocate our publicly owned spectrum. As the Senators noted, "For the first time in a long time, Congress is very seriously considering reforms to how we manage our nation's airwaves."

But this current letter warned against micromanaging the spectrum management reform matters now being considered. Said the four:

"We must suppress our desire to be overly prescriptive to derive some predetermined outcome and because of the ever-changing landscape allow the FCC to set the proper course, over the long-term, to maximize the full economic and social benefit that wireless spectrum offers."

Spectrum reform is one key to extending our communications, including our broadband infrastructure. As the Kerry letter pointed out:

"Modernizing our nation's radio spectrum planning, management, and coordination activities to better meet the future spectrum needs of all users is a difficult undertaking which deals with very complex issues that demand flexibility."

Democratic and Republican Senators Urge Smart, Inclusive Spectrum Reform (Senator John Kerry press release and letter, Jan. 9, 2012)