Number: RS20993
Title: Wireless Technology and Spectrum Demand: Advanced Wireless Services
Authors: Linda K. Moore, Resources, Science, and Industry Division 
Abstract: Legislation providing terms for the release of spectrum for unlicensed or licensed use in TV "white space" includes S. 234 (Kerry) and its companion bill H.R. 1597 (Inslee); S. 337 (Sununu); and H.R. 1320 (Rush). S. 1853 (Lautenberg), the Community Broadband Act, would assure the right of communities to offer advanced telecommunications services. H.R. 5682 (Allen), the Rural America Communication Expansion for the Future Act of 2008, would provide incentives to encourage broadband use in rural areas, including a grants program for local governments for "publiclyavailable networks of broadband service." The Wireless Internet Nationwide for Families Act of 2008, H.R. 5846 (Eshoo) would require the Federal Communications Commission to auction two national licenses for unpaired spectrum that would be used to provide free broadband services to consumers and public safety. A similar bill, the Open Wireless Internet Act, S. 3420 (Wyden), would require study of possible interference between transmissions from the spectrum band of the new licenses and adjacent bands previously licensed. Licenses for some of the mentioned frequencies are being considered for auction AWS-3.
Pages: 6
Date: October 14, 2008