Earlier this month, the House Committee on Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology marked up H.R. 7783, the Extending America’s Auction Leadership Act. The bill would grant the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the ability to conduct spectrum auctions for an additional 18 months. The agency’s auction authority expires on September 30th and must be renewed by an act of Congress before then.

The American Consumer Institute urges Congress to act quickly to ensure this important bill is approved.

The FCC has collected hundreds of billions of dollars from the sale of spectrum. This money is used to offset public debt and pay for a variety of important public projects such as FirstNet emergency communication networks. To lose this money would be devastating and break a cycle of continuous auction authority reauthorizations that go back to the creation of the world’s first spectrum auction authority in 1993. It could also present major disruptions in the short term such as to the agency’s plan to host a July auction on the sale of 2.5 GHz Band spectrum.

Congress can prevent this from happening by moving quickly to pass H.R. 7783. A timely reauthorization of the FCC’s auction authority will ensure that America continues to benefit from the sale of spectrum and from the large investment that companies make in building out the next generation of network infrastructure.

You can learn more about Spectrum Reauthorization and issues related to telecommunications by visiting www.TheAmericanConsumer.Org or following us on Twitter @ConsumerPal.

Share: