Senators sketch out new broadband bill for ’03

A bill expected to be introduced in the U.S. Senate early next year is being promoted to encourage the expansion of broadband Internet access by making more broadcast spectrum available to devices that incorporate new technologies such as Wi-Fi .

By Gretel Johnston, IDG News Service

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and George Allen (R-Va.) have announced plans to introduce the bill in the 108th Congress, which convenes in January. The bill proposes to jump-start expansion of broadband technologies in a way that sponsors say breaks with traditional thinking about how that can be accomplished.

The Boxer-Allen proposal would require the Federal Communications Commission to make more broadcast spectrum available for devices that incorporate new technologies such as Wi-Fi wireless network connectivity, according to a statement issued by Boxer yesterday. The bill also requires the FCC to develop guidelines for the expanded portion of the broadcast spectrum that will be used by these devices to avoid signal congestion and interference.

Current regulations limit Wi-Fi and similar technologies to a small portion of the spectrum, which in turn limits their development, Boxer said. The Wi-Fi 802.11b connectivity specification is used for high-speed wireless Internet connectivity. Wi-Fi "hot spots" — the zones where it’s possible to connect — are typically found in places such as airport lounges and coffee shops.

Another goal of the Boxer-Allen legislation is to give rural communities new ways of accessing the Internet.

The proposal would follow an ill-fated attempt in the current Congress to spur the growth of broadband that set off fierce debates within the industry. The Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act, better known as the Tauzin-Dingell bill, won approval in the House of Representatives in February, but died in the Senate.

That bill was crafted to make it easier for incumbent local phone companies such as Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. to offer high-speed Internet services. But it also would have eliminated regulations that require incumbents to open the data component of their local telephone networks to competitors before receiving approval from regulators to enter long-distance data markets.

Work is already under way in Washington to reform U.S. spectrum policy. Earlier this month, the FCC began considering recommendations, including more flexible use of spectrum, made by a task force assigned to look at the U.S. spectrum policy. Also recommended are a major revision of rules governing signal interference and the resale or lease of spectrum under certain conditions.

The recommendations are aimed at modernizing the rules that guide management of the nation’s spectrum and at allowing the rules to evolve from a traditional government "command and control" model to a more flexible, consumer-oriented approach, the FCC said in a Nov. 7 statement accompanying the task force’s report.

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