The convergence of wireless telecomm. technology and Internet protocols is fostering new generations of mobile technologies. This transformation has created new demands for advanced commun. infrastructure and radio frequency spectrum capacity that can support high-speed, content-rich uses. Wireless technologies support public safety commun., sensors, smart grids, med. and public health, intelligent transport. systems, etc. This report considers the possibility of modifying spectrum policy: (1) to support broadband deployment by placing more emphasis on attracting new providers of wireless broadband services; and (2) to accommodate the wireless broadband needs of industries that are considered to be the economic drivers of the future. Illus.

The convergence of wireless telecomm. technology with the Internet Protocol (IP) is fostering new generations of mobile technologies. This transformation has created new demands for advanced communications infrastructure and radio frequency spectrum capacity that can support high-speed, content-rich uses. Wireless technologies support public safety commun., sensors, smart grids, medicine and public health, intelligent transportation systems, and many other vital communications. Contents of this report: The Role of Spectrum Policy; The Nat. Broadband Plan and Spectrum Policy; National Purposes; Issues for the 111th Congress; Conclusion. Append.: Spectrum-Hungry Technol.; Competition; Internat. Policies for Spectrum Mgmt.

This report discusses key spectrum policy provisions in the bills, as well as other spectrum policy issues that are being considered in the 112th Congress, such as the role of wholesale networks like that being deployed by LightSquared.

The convergence of wireless telecommunications technology and internet protocols is fostering new generations of mobile technologies. This transformation has created new demands for advanced communications infrastructures and radio frequency spectrum capacity that can support high-speed, content-rich uses. Furthermore, a number of services, in addition to consumer and business communications, rely at least in part on wireless links to broadband backbones. This book discusses the possibility of modifying spectrum policy to support national goals for broadband deployment by placing more emphasis on attracting new providers of wireless broadband services and to accommodate the wireless broadband needs of industries that are considered by many to be the economic drivers of the future.

Our digital world is increasingly mobile. All mobile communication rests upon access to one invisible, essential element: the radio spectrum. In Frequencies Gregory Taylor and Catherine Middleton bring together diverse national perspectives to explore the current and future state of spectrum governance worldwide. Spectrum is a foundational component of our contemporary communication infrastructure. The stakes are massive: mobile network operators have invested billions of dollars via national spectrum auctions to claim exclusive use of prime spectrum bands. Despite this windfall for national governments, many people around the globe remain disconnected from mobile service, yet international policy comparisons that can help us understand these disparities and differences are rare. Frequencies offers illuminating case studies from around the world, including Finland, Mexico, New Zealand, India, and Canada, as well as forward-thinking approaches to our use of radio frequencies that encourage greater public benefit and technological advancement. The contributors to Frequencies represent a wide array of disciplinary backgrounds, united by the common goal of maximizing the value and access to the public good that is the radio spectrum. Spectrum policy affects everyone, whether while listening to the radio, making an emergency phone call, or scrolling through social media updates. Frequencies seeks to broaden the discussion about our management of this primary resource necessary for how the world shares information.

A thoroughly updated, comprehensive, and accessible guide to U.S. telecommunications law and policy, covering recent developments including mobile broadband issues, spectrum policy, and net neutrality.

The twenty-first-century telecommunications landscape is radically different from the one that prevailed as recently as the last decade of the twentieth century. Robert Litan and Hal Singer argue that given the speed of innovation in this sector, the Federal Communications Commission's outdated policies and rules are inhibiting investment in the telecom industry, specifically in fast broadband networks. This pithy handbook presents the kind of fundamental rethinking needed to bring communications policy in line with technological advances. Fast broadband has huge societal benefits, enabling all kinds of applications in telemedicine, entertainment, retailing, education, and energy that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Those benefits would be even greater if the FCC adopted policies that encouraged more broadband providers, especially wireless providers, to make their services available in the roughly half of the country where consumers currently have no choice in wireline providers offering download speeds that satisfy the FCC's current standards. The authors' recommendations include allowing broadband providers to charge for premium delivery services; embracing a rule-of-reason approach to all matters involving vertical arrangements; stripping the FCC of its merger review authority because both the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department have the authority to stop anticompetitive mergers; eliminating the FCC's ability to condition spectrum purchases on the identity, business plans, or spectrum holdings of a bidder; and freeing telephone companies from outdated regulations that require them to maintain both a legacy copper network and a modem IP network. These changes and others advanced in this book would greatly enhance consumer welfare with respect to telecommunications services and the applications built around them.

For companies in and around the telecommunications field, the past few years have been a time of extraordinary change-technologically and legally. The enacting of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the development of international trade agreements have fundamentally changed the environment in which your business operates, creating risks, responsibilities, and opportunities that were not there before. Until now, you'd have had a hard time finding a serious business book that offered any more than a cursory glance at this transformed world. But at last there's a resource you can depend on for in-depth analysis and sound advice. Written in easy-to-understand language, Telecommunications Law in the Internet Age systematically examines the complex interrelationships of new laws, new technologies, and new business practices, and equips you with the practical understanding you need to run your enterprise optimally within today's legal boundaries.* Offers authoritative coverage from a lawyer and telecommunications authority who has been working in the field for over three decades.* Examines telecommunications law in the U.S., at both the federal and state level.* Presents an unparalleled source of information on international trade regulations and their effects on the industry.* Covers the modern telecommunications issues with which most companies are grappling: wireless communication, e-commerce, satellite systems, privacy and encryption, Internet taxation, export controls, intellectual property, spamming, pornography, Internet telephony, extranets, and more.* Provides guidelines for preventing inadvertent violations of telecommunications law.* Offers guidance on fending off legal and illegal attacks by hackers, competitors, and foreign governments.* Helps you do more than understand and obey the law: helps you thrive within it.

Wireless broadband and the future of spectrum policy : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Fourteenth Congress, first session, July 29, 2015.