I can probably guess what this provision is about. President Obama has been hot on connecting the country through the internet with every opportunity. One aspect is that small businesses are enhanced by internet business and advertising.
Ya gotta love this. The provision BEGINS with definitions.
SEC. 271. DEFINITIONS.
In this subtitle, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) 700 MHZ BAND.—The term “700 MHz band” means the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between the frequencies from 698 megahertz to 806 megahertz.
electromagnetic spectrum frequencies
We actually have these things in the USA? Is the man sure about this? Because I'll be darn if my Iphone says anything about electromagnetism. That isn't like a new Obama religion or something is it?
Electromagnetic Spectrum Frequencies. Now, I know I've heard the word SPECTRUM before. Let's see. Hmmmmmm....Oh, yeah, the light spectrum.
Oh, bandwidth. Like wavelength. So, it isn't Sci-Fi afterall. I thought Halloween or something, but, for real here, bandwidth is a real thing. Can't see it or touch it, sort of like Air Quality although in all honesty it can become very visible at times, especially with "Ozone in the Morning."
Cough, cough, cough.
(2) 700 MHZ D BLOCK SPECTRUM.—The term “700 MHz D block spectrum” means the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum frequencies from 758 megahertz to 763 megahertz and from 788 megahertz to 793 megahertz.
(A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives.
(4) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term “Assistant Secretary” means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information.
(5) COMMISSION.—The term “Commission” means the Federal Communications Commission.
(6) CORPORATION.—The term “Corporation” means the Public Safety Broadband Corporation established in section 284.
(7) EXISTING PUBLIC SAFETY BROADBAND SPECTRUM.—The term “existing public safety broadband spectrum” means the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between the frequencies—
(A) from 763 megahertz to 768 megahertz;
(B) from 793 megahertz to 798 megahertz;
(C) from 768 megahertz to 769 megahertz; and
(D) from 798 megahertz to 799 megahertz.
(8) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term “Federal entity” has the same meaning as in section 113(i) of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(i)).
A lot of regulations here. I wonder if the Republicans want to cease regulation on Bandwidth? I can think of a few people that would help the rest of the nation plug in without bothering Wall Street. I am sure that is what Republicans long to do. Liberate bandwidth from REGULATION. Great guys aren't they?
Cited Law: (It can be frustrating when law cites other law)
Section 284 is from this bill. The reference is form Section 284 which I haven't covered yet.
(13) PUBLIC SAFETY SERVICES.—The term “public safety services”—
(A) has the meaning given the term in section 337(f) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 337(f)); and
(B) includes services provided by emergency response providers, as that term is defined in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101).
Cited Law:
Definitions
For purposes of this section:
(1)
Public safety services
The term "public safety services" means services—
(A) the sole or principal purpose of which is to protect the safety of life, health, or property;
(B) that are provided—
(i) by State or local government entities; or
(ii) by nongovernmental organizations that are authorized by a governmental entity whose primary mission is the provision of such services; and
(C) that are not made commercially available to the public by the provider.
(2)
Qualifying low-power television stations
A station is a qualifying low-power television station if, during the 90 days preceding August 5, 1997—
(A) such station broadcast a minimum of 18 hours per day;
(B) such station broadcast an average of at least 3 hours per week of programming that was produced within the market area served by such station; and
(C) such station was in compliance with the requirements applicable to low-power television stations.
TITLE 6 > CHAPTER 1 > § 101
The bill wants to prepare bandwidth for auction. There is mention of use by Non-Federal entities and there is sharing mentioned, but, what this section of the bill wants is to provide a refurbishment of the federal holdings for sale.
“(E) the costs associated with the accelerated replacement of systems and equipment if such acceleration is necessary to ensure the timely relocation of systems to a new frequency assignment or the timely accommodation of sharing of Federal frequencies; and
This simply allows OMB to transfer monies to make the updates, if one can call it that.
(2) replacing subsection (c) with the following:
...However, the Director may not transfer more than $100,000,000 associated with authorized pre-auction activities before an auction is completed and proceeds are deposited in the Spectrum Relocation Fund. Within the $100,000,000 that may be transferred before an auction, the Director of OMB may transfer up to $10,000,000 in total to eligible federal entities for eligible relocation or sharing costs related to pre-auction estimates or research as defined in subparagraph (C) of section 923(g)(3) of this title for costs incurred prior to the enactment of this legislation, but after June 28th, 2010. These amounts transferred pursuant to the previous proviso are in addition to amounts that the Director of OMB may transfer after the enactment of this legislation ”;
“(3) The increase to the Fund due to any one auction after any payment is not less than 10 percent of the winning bids in the relevant auction, or is not less than 10 percent of the payments from non-Federal entities in the relevant sharing agreement;
National Security Provision
(g) If the head of an executive agency of the Federal Government determines that public disclosure of any information contained in notifications and reports required by sections 923 or 928 of Title 47 of the United States Code would reveal classified national security information or other information for which there is a legal basis for nondisclosure and such public disclosure would be detrimental to national security, homeland security, public safety, or jeopardize law enforcement investigations the head of the executive agency shall notify the NTIA of that determination prior to release of such information. In that event, such information shall be included in a separate annex, as needed and to the extent the agency head determines is consistent with national security or law enforcement purposes. These annexes shall be provided to the appropriate subcommittee in accordance with applicable stipulations, but shall not be disclosed to the public or provided to any unauthorized person through any other means.
SECTION 273. INCENTIVE AUCTION AUTHORITY.
(a) Paragraph (8) of section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)) is amended-
...adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:
“(F) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if the Commission determines that it is consistent with the public interest in utilization of the spectrum for a licensee to voluntarily relinquish some or all of its licensed spectrum usage rights in order to permit the assignment of new initial licenses through a competitive bidding process subject to new service rules,...
...“(i) The Chairman of the Commission, in consultation with the Director of OMB, shall notify the Committees on Appropriations and Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, and the Committees on Appropriations and Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives of the methodology for calculating such payments to licensees at least 3 months in advance of the relevant auction, and that such methodology consider the value of spectrum vacated in its current use and the timeliness of clearing; and
“(ii) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), and except as provided in subparagraphs (B), (C), and (D), all proceeds (including deposits and up front payments from successful bidders) from the auction of spectrum under this section and section 106 of this Act shall be deposited with the Public Safety Trust Fund established under section 217 of this Act.
All this auction is a method to put monies back into the Treasury and open more opportunity for the private sector while expanding economic capacity. My only worry is that others than Americans will receive these rights and that would be tragic. I haven't noticed anywhere in the bill that there would be sovereign limitations on these auctions to Americans and their business enterprises. There should be such restraints placed before the auctions are announced.
“(G) ESTABLISHMENT OF INCENTIVE AUCTION RELOCATION FUND.—
“(v) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the Incentive Auction Relocation Fund may only be used by the NTIA, in consultation with the Commission, to cover—
“(I) the reasonable costs of television broadcast stations that are relocated to a different spectrum channel or geographic location following an incentive auction under subparagraph (F), or that are impacted by such relocations, including to cover the cost of new equipment, installation, and construction; and
“(II) the costs incurred by multichannel video programming distributors for new equipment, installation, and construction related to the carriage of such relocated stations or the carriage of stations that voluntarily elect to share a channel, but retain their existing rights to carriage pursuant to sections 338, 614, and 615.”.
To the extent that the Commission makes available terrestrial broadband rights on spectrum primarily licensed for mobile satellite services, the Commission shall recover a significant portion of the value of such right either through the authority provided in section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)) or by section 278 of this subtitle.
All these opportunities need to be limited to Americans. I don't see it any other way. If there is to be investment through this bill to 'ready' the frequencies for auction, the opportunities belong to Americans and no one else.
That is the end of Page 69. I'll take up the bill tomorrow with:
SECTION 275. PERMANENT EXTENSION OF AUCTION AUTHORITY.
Section 309(j)11 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309 (j)(11)) is repealed.
SECTION 276. AUTHORITY TO AUCTION LICENSES FOR DOMESTIC SATELLITE SERVICES.
end
Ya gotta love this. The provision BEGINS with definitions.
SEC. 271. DEFINITIONS.
In this subtitle, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) 700 MHZ BAND.—The term “700 MHz band” means the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between the frequencies from 698 megahertz to 806 megahertz.
electromagnetic spectrum frequencies
We actually have these things in the USA? Is the man sure about this? Because I'll be darn if my Iphone says anything about electromagnetism. That isn't like a new Obama religion or something is it?
Electromagnetic Spectrum Frequencies. Now, I know I've heard the word SPECTRUM before. Let's see. Hmmmmmm....Oh, yeah, the light spectrum.
Oh, bandwidth. Like wavelength. So, it isn't Sci-Fi afterall. I thought Halloween or something, but, for real here, bandwidth is a real thing. Can't see it or touch it, sort of like Air Quality although in all honesty it can become very visible at times, especially with "Ozone in the Morning."
Cough, cough, cough.
Consultation on a Policy and Technical Framework for the 700 MHz Band and Aspects Related to Commercial Mobile Spectrum (click title to entry - thank you)
5.2 Options for use of 758-768 MHz Paired with 788-798 MHz for Public Safety and/or Commercial Systems
The public safety community uses spectrum to communicate on a day-to-day basis, in emergency situations and for disaster relief. Land mobile systems are used by public safety agencies to provide critical communications between individuals, to large groups at the same time and between individuals and command centres. Mobile broadband applications may be used by public safety agencies to provide information such as pictures, blueprints, real-time video feeds, fast record transfer, etc., which could improve situational awareness and response time....(2) 700 MHZ D BLOCK SPECTRUM.—The term “700 MHz D block spectrum” means the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum frequencies from 758 megahertz to 763 megahertz and from 788 megahertz to 793 megahertz.
(A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives.
(4) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term “Assistant Secretary” means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information.
(5) COMMISSION.—The term “Commission” means the Federal Communications Commission.
(6) CORPORATION.—The term “Corporation” means the Public Safety Broadband Corporation established in section 284.
(7) EXISTING PUBLIC SAFETY BROADBAND SPECTRUM.—The term “existing public safety broadband spectrum” means the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between the frequencies—
(A) from 763 megahertz to 768 megahertz;
(B) from 793 megahertz to 798 megahertz;
(C) from 768 megahertz to 769 megahertz; and
(D) from 798 megahertz to 799 megahertz.
(8) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term “Federal entity” has the same meaning as in section 113(i) of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(i)).
A lot of regulations here. I wonder if the Republicans want to cease regulation on Bandwidth? I can think of a few people that would help the rest of the nation plug in without bothering Wall Street. I am sure that is what Republicans long to do. Liberate bandwidth from REGULATION. Great guys aren't they?
Cited Law: (It can be frustrating when law cites other law)
Search 47 U.S.C. § 923 : US Code - Section 923: Identification of reallocable frequencies (click here)
(i) "Federal entity" defined
For purposes of this section, the term "Federal entity" means any department, agency, or other instrumentality of the Federal Government that utilizes a Government station license obtained
under section 305 of the 1934 Act ().
As cited immediately above:
47 USC 305 - Sec. 305. Government owned stations (click here)
(6) CORPORATION.—The term “Corporation” means the Public Safety Broadband Corporation established in section 284.Section 284 is from this bill. The reference is form Section 284 which I haven't covered yet.
(13) PUBLIC SAFETY SERVICES.—The term “public safety services”—
(A) has the meaning given the term in section 337(f) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 337(f)); and
(B) includes services provided by emergency response providers, as that term is defined in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101).
Cited Law:
Sec. 337. Allocation and assignment of new public safety services licenses and commercial licenses (click here)
(f)Definitions
For purposes of this section:
(1)
Public safety services
The term "public safety services" means services—
(A) the sole or principal purpose of which is to protect the safety of life, health, or property;
(B) that are provided—
(i) by State or local government entities; or
(ii) by nongovernmental organizations that are authorized by a governmental entity whose primary mission is the provision of such services; and
(C) that are not made commercially available to the public by the provider.
(2)
Qualifying low-power television stations
A station is a qualifying low-power television station if, during the 90 days preceding August 5, 1997—
(A) such station broadcast a minimum of 18 hours per day;
(B) such station broadcast an average of at least 3 hours per week of programming that was produced within the market area served by such station; and
(C) such station was in compliance with the requirements applicable to low-power television stations.
TITLE 6 > CHAPTER 1 > § 101
§ 101. DEFINITIONS (CLICK HERE)
So the definitions were setting the stage for auctions. Not deregulation? Bummer.
PART I – AUCTIONS OF SPECTRUM AND SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT
SEC. 272. CLARIFICATION OF AUTHORITIES TO REPURPOSE FEDERAL SPECTRUM FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES.
(b) Eligible Frequencies. – Section 113(g)(2)(B) of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(g)(2)) is amended by deleting and replacing subsection (B) with the following:
“(B) any other band of frequencies reallocated from Federal use to non-Federal or shared use after January 1, 2003, that is assigned by competitive bidding pursuant to section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C 309(j)) or is assigned as a result of later legislation or other administrative direction.”.
(c) Paragraph (3) of subsection 113(g) of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(g)(3)) is amended by striking it in its entirety and replacing it with the following:
“(3) DEFINITION OF RELOCATION AND SHARING COSTS.--
Cited Law:
(j) Use of competitive biddingPART I – AUCTIONS OF SPECTRUM AND SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT
SEC. 272. CLARIFICATION OF AUTHORITIES TO REPURPOSE FEDERAL SPECTRUM FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES.
(b) Eligible Frequencies. – Section 113(g)(2)(B) of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(g)(2)) is amended by deleting and replacing subsection (B) with the following:
“(B) any other band of frequencies reallocated from Federal use to non-Federal or shared use after January 1, 2003, that is assigned by competitive bidding pursuant to section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C 309(j)) or is assigned as a result of later legislation or other administrative direction.”.
(c) Paragraph (3) of subsection 113(g) of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(g)(3)) is amended by striking it in its entirety and replacing it with the following:
“(3) DEFINITION OF RELOCATION AND SHARING COSTS.--
Cited Law:
47 USC CHAPTER 8 - NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION (click here)§ 923. IDENTIFICATION OF REALLOCABLE FREQUENCIES (click here)
(g) Relocation of Federal Government stations
(2) Eligible frequencies§ 309. APPLICATION FOR LICENSE (click here)
The bill wants to prepare bandwidth for auction. There is mention of use by Non-Federal entities and there is sharing mentioned, but, what this section of the bill wants is to provide a refurbishment of the federal holdings for sale.
“(E) the costs associated with the accelerated replacement of systems and equipment if such acceleration is necessary to ensure the timely relocation of systems to a new frequency assignment or the timely accommodation of sharing of Federal frequencies; and
This simply allows OMB to transfer monies to make the updates, if one can call it that.
(2) replacing subsection (c) with the following:
...However, the Director may not transfer more than $100,000,000 associated with authorized pre-auction activities before an auction is completed and proceeds are deposited in the Spectrum Relocation Fund. Within the $100,000,000 that may be transferred before an auction, the Director of OMB may transfer up to $10,000,000 in total to eligible federal entities for eligible relocation or sharing costs related to pre-auction estimates or research as defined in subparagraph (C) of section 923(g)(3) of this title for costs incurred prior to the enactment of this legislation, but after June 28th, 2010. These amounts transferred pursuant to the previous proviso are in addition to amounts that the Director of OMB may transfer after the enactment of this legislation ”;
“(2) Such payments are authorized for:
“(A) the purposes of achieving enhanced capabilities of systems that are affected by the activities specified in subparagraphs (A) through (F) of paragraph (3) of subsection 923(g) of this title; and
National Security Provision
(g) If the head of an executive agency of the Federal Government determines that public disclosure of any information contained in notifications and reports required by sections 923 or 928 of Title 47 of the United States Code would reveal classified national security information or other information for which there is a legal basis for nondisclosure and such public disclosure would be detrimental to national security, homeland security, public safety, or jeopardize law enforcement investigations the head of the executive agency shall notify the NTIA of that determination prior to release of such information. In that event, such information shall be included in a separate annex, as needed and to the extent the agency head determines is consistent with national security or law enforcement purposes. These annexes shall be provided to the appropriate subcommittee in accordance with applicable stipulations, but shall not be disclosed to the public or provided to any unauthorized person through any other means.
SECTION 273. INCENTIVE AUCTION AUTHORITY.
(a) Paragraph (8) of section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)) is amended-
...adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:
“(F) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if the Commission determines that it is consistent with the public interest in utilization of the spectrum for a licensee to voluntarily relinquish some or all of its licensed spectrum usage rights in order to permit the assignment of new initial licenses through a competitive bidding process subject to new service rules,...
...“(i) The Chairman of the Commission, in consultation with the Director of OMB, shall notify the Committees on Appropriations and Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, and the Committees on Appropriations and Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives of the methodology for calculating such payments to licensees at least 3 months in advance of the relevant auction, and that such methodology consider the value of spectrum vacated in its current use and the timeliness of clearing; and
“(ii) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), and except as provided in subparagraphs (B), (C), and (D), all proceeds (including deposits and up front payments from successful bidders) from the auction of spectrum under this section and section 106 of this Act shall be deposited with the Public Safety Trust Fund established under section 217 of this Act.
All this auction is a method to put monies back into the Treasury and open more opportunity for the private sector while expanding economic capacity. My only worry is that others than Americans will receive these rights and that would be tragic. I haven't noticed anywhere in the bill that there would be sovereign limitations on these auctions to Americans and their business enterprises. There should be such restraints placed before the auctions are announced.
“(G) ESTABLISHMENT OF INCENTIVE AUCTION RELOCATION FUND.—
“(v) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the Incentive Auction Relocation Fund may only be used by the NTIA, in consultation with the Commission, to cover—
“(I) the reasonable costs of television broadcast stations that are relocated to a different spectrum channel or geographic location following an incentive auction under subparagraph (F), or that are impacted by such relocations, including to cover the cost of new equipment, installation, and construction; and
“(II) the costs incurred by multichannel video programming distributors for new equipment, installation, and construction related to the carriage of such relocated stations or the carriage of stations that voluntarily elect to share a channel, but retain their existing rights to carriage pursuant to sections 338, 614, and 615.”.
SECTION 274. REQUIREMENTS WHEN REPURPOSING CERTAIN MOBILE SATELLITE SERVICES SPECTRUM FOR TERRESTRIAL BROADBAND USE.
To the extent that the Commission makes available terrestrial broadband rights on spectrum primarily licensed for mobile satellite services, the Commission shall recover a significant portion of the value of such right either through the authority provided in section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)) or by section 278 of this subtitle.
All these opportunities need to be limited to Americans. I don't see it any other way. If there is to be investment through this bill to 'ready' the frequencies for auction, the opportunities belong to Americans and no one else.
That is the end of Page 69. I'll take up the bill tomorrow with:
SECTION 275. PERMANENT EXTENSION OF AUCTION AUTHORITY.
Section 309(j)11 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309 (j)(11)) is repealed.
SECTION 276. AUTHORITY TO AUCTION LICENSES FOR DOMESTIC SATELLITE SERVICES.
end
