House Hearing To Explore Spectrum Efficiency

A brief postscript to the article we published earlier this week about “spectrum crunch” and how a limit on wireless Internet access could stifle Hawaii’s digital future.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Communication and Technology Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing this morning to “examine how both federal agencies and commercial wireless carriers might benefit from more efficient government use of spectrum,” according to subcommittee Chair Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican.

“As the single largest spectrum user, the federal government could save taxpayers money and make more frequencies available to meet American consumers’ growing demand for mobile broadband services, while improving its own capabilities,” he said.

Here’s the hearing notice and a background memo with lots of details. You can watch a video stream here.

Trade organizations sent a letter Wednesday to committee members asking for help. The letter concluded: ”More cleared, paired, internationally-harmonized spectrum allocations below 3 GHz are needed and needed soon. America’s economy and its global leadership in mobile broadband depend on it.”

— Michael Levine