The “Mobile Now” Act, a Senate bill that would encourage U.S. government agencies to free up swaths of underutilized spectrum in a bid to increase wireless capacity, has been pulled from a list of bills to be considered by the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday, Broadcasting and Cable reported.
The report indicated that the bill was removed from the Nov. 18 markup list after several committee members said they were not yet ready to amend or vote on the measure and requested more time to vet the bill.
A draft of the bill – formally known as the Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless Act – first began circulating earlier this month, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
According to details in the draft measure, the bill would provide financial incentive for federal agencies to surrender underused portions of spectrum that are assigned to them, including up to 25 percent of proceeds from the sale of their spectrum and the possibility to lease their spectrum to the private sector. The bill would also seek to secure as a long-term goal President Obama’s focus on clearing 500 megahertz of spectrum by 2020. The draft measure also included language to bump the spectrum auction target passed in the recent Bipartisan Budget Act from 30 MHz to 50 MHz by 2024.
Filed Under: Industry regulations