In early March, the unthinkable happened: spectrum authority lapsed for the first time in its history due to lack of Senate reauthorization despite passage of a bill by the House. This occurred despite bipartisan support in Congress and from stakeholders of all kinds.
Now, three months have passed by, the debt ceiling fight is over, and the year is almost halfway finished. It’s time for Congress to reevaluate and address this glaring lapse for American competitiveness. Spectrum auction authority was established in 1993 to allow for the sale of certain wireless bands for commercial purposes. This coincided with the rise of cellphones and the wireless industry overall. Nowadays, wireless spectrum is utilized for even more use functions, from wireless broadband, to Wi-Fi, to Internet of Things applications.
This means that allowing more spectrum to be available for commercial purposes is even more important than ever. Guaranteeing a spectrum pipeline will enable American leadership in wireless technology. This will be even more important as the next generation of wireless technologies become prevalent. These “6G” technologies might enable long-distance twinning, fine robotic control, advanced edge computing for AR/VR applications and more currently unimagined uses.
Ahead of the standard-setting 2023 World Radiocommunications Conference in November, lawmakers should take heed of how a lack of spectrum pipeline will make U.S. competitiveness appear on the international stage. As the Center for Strategic and International Studies notes, American internal disagreement on spectrum and subsequent lack of unified proposals at this conference will handicap domestic companies if the world’s standards shift in another direction.
Our technological rivals like China will certainly be taking note and potentially taking advantage of a lapse in U.S. leadership. Currently, China is on pace to have 80 percent of its wireless users on 5G by 2029. The growth of this market could result in international wireless shifting around Chinese standards and technology instead of the United States’, thereby reducing American international competitiveness.
It is time for Congress to send President Biden a bill like the Spectrum Reauthorization Act of 2023 which will reauthorize the FCC’s spectrum auction authority and ensure a spectrum pipeline will continue to grow America’s leadership in a pivotal technological field.