DEMS/FCC/GOP: “Republican and Democratic lawmakers have reached agreement to allow for the sale of spectrum to speed up the introduction of next-generation 5G wireless networks, congressional leaders said on Friday [3-2-18].
The U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the measure on Tuesday, leaders in both parties said.
Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai on Monday said the regulator plans new auctions of high-band spectrum starting later this year for 5G networks to improve internet services across the United States.
Wireless carriers have spent billions of dollars acquiring spectrum and beginning to develop and test 5G networks, which are expected to be at least 100 times faster than 4G networks and cut latency to less than one thousandth of a second from one hundredth of a second in 4G, the FCC has said.
Pai said he plans to hold an auction of spectrum in the 28 GHz band in November, followed immediately by an auction of spectrum in the 24 GHz band, but must first get congressional approval by May 13 to proceed.
The bill unveiled on Friday includes a technical fix to allow the auction to proceed to allow the FCC to deposit upfront payments from spectrum bidders with the U.S. Treasury. Under current law, the FCC must deposit such payments with private banks in interest-bearing accounts, but regulations make that impossible.”
-David Shepardson, “U.S. Congress to vote on allowing spectrum auction for 5G networks,” Reuters, Mar. 2, 2018 08:45am