WASHINGTON – U.S. officials don’t need to conduct studies broadcasters have advocated before moving toward repurposing television airwaves for smartphones, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said.
The FCC has completed “a baseline spectrum inventory that tells us more than enough” to know that paying broadcasters to relinquish airwaves is a useful way expand mobile Internet use, Genachowski said on Wednesday in a speech in Washington.
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The National Association of Broadcasters called for an inventory showing how spectrum is used before Congress authorizes payment to broadcasters who give up their airwaves. Having broadcasters voluntarily give up spectrum is a step in the Obama administration’s plan to free frequencies for mobile high-speed Internet use, or broadband.
“We are hopeful that going forward, the FCC undertakes a thoughtful process that in no way jeopardizes” broadcasters’ services to 43 million Americans who rely on over-the-air reception, Gordon Smith, president of the Washington-based broadcasters’ association, said in a statement.
CTIA-the Wireless Association, a Washington-based trade group, “appreciates Chairman Genachowski’s leadership,” Steve Largent, the group’s president, said in a statement.
“The airwaves are a finite resource and America cannot afford to have an industry whose viewership is declining stand in the way of our ability to meet businesses’ and consumers’ demand for all that the mobile Internet makes possible,” he said.
