The Federal Communications Commission of the United States of America (FCC) has temporarily lost the power to assign spectrum frequencies, after the Senate of that country did not reach an agreement to extend the discussions on this issue to next May 19 and finally allowed the FCC’s authority to auction radio bands for another ten years they must be renewed.
In this way, the United States today does not have a sectoral authority in charge of commanding frequencies for telecommunications services, such as telephony or the Internet and other new generation services, while China, its technological rival, is making progress with the will to assign. different bands, in its market coverage and capacity and with the construction by 2022 of more than one million stations only for 5G services.
The House of Representatives in February had approved this power of the FCC to extend until May, the current period expired on March 9 and after ten years of validity, and while the FCC accelerated the frequency of assignment processes. The Senate also did not ratify the convention approved by the House of Representatives.
During the debates in the US Senate, various disagreements between politicians arose from the votes of the so-called Innovation Law, which also had an impact on the revalidation of the powers of the FCC.
Among other things, the approval of this law also allowed for up to 10,000 million dollars to renew emergency systems such as the number 831, with the resources requested by the taxing countries for the exploitation of frequencies.
Nor did the Senate decide that if the FCC lost its authority to assign frequencies, then the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) would have the authority to grant such grants.
The Federal Communications Commission, the equivalent authority to Mexico’s Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT), has urged the United States Congress to authorize agreements to soon regain its authority to compete for radio frequencies.
The FCC hoped that Congress would “quickly restore” its power to bid on frequencies.
This authority meant that more than 100 years of competition in the market has set the spectrum and allowed the United States Treasury to obtain assets of up to 233,000 million dollars.
“For three decades, the FCC’s authority to auction the nation’s airwaves has been a necessary tool for winning promising new wireless technologies. Technologies that simultaneously stimulate economic growth, create jobs, and strengthen national security and global leadership. Our auctions have proven time and time again to be tremendous engines of innovation and commerce in the Internet ecosystem and the growth of the Internet ecosystem, and to develop next-generation connectivity for everyone and everywhere,” the FCC said.
“The FCC has conducted hundreds of auctions and generated more than $233 billion in revenue and unlocked incredible benefits for the American people. The moderator said the FCC’s auction authority should be restored quickly.
CTIA, the chamber that represents the mobile industry in the United States and where the companies Verizon, T-Mobile or AT&T participate, indicated that the work of the FCC controller allowed these types of companies to invest up to 265,000 million dollars. the exploitation of frequencies in mobile services, also generating 4.5 million jobs and a GDP of 825,000 million dollars.
“Congress has never allowed the FCC’s spectrum auction authority to slip until now (…) Without authority and spectrum to accelerate demand for broadband wireless, the United States risks falling behind China and other nations.” to lead globally in the new 5G. innovations and industries of the future,” said CTIA.
