The Race to 5G: Exploring Spectrum Needs to Maintain U.S. Global Leadership - Chairman John Thune Majority Statement

Statement

This morning, our Committee meets again to examine the issue of spectrum needed to maintain U.S. global leadership in next generation wireless services.

5G, with gigabit speeds, extremely low latency, and the ability to connect tremendous numbers of devices, sounds like a wireless service from the future.

But make no mistake, the 5G evolution is upon us.

The race to lead the world in 5G has begun.

It is a race we must win, but by many accounts we are already behind China and other nations in key areas.

Here's what's at stake.

5G is expected to contribute $275 billion in new investment, $500 billion in economic growth, and three million new jobs.

It is estimated that American leadership in 4G contributed more than $100 billion additional dollars to our nation's economy.

We have the technology.

The technology created by American industries, including those represented here today, leads the world in next generation mobile communications.

But that is only part of the equation. Spectrum and deployment are also critical.

We must ensure that wireless providers have spectrum on which their systems can operate, and they must be able to deploy those networks in a reasonable and timely manner.

The MOBILE NOW Act, legislation I introduced with the Ranking Member that was enacted earlier this year, addressed both of these critical components.

But, as we noted at the time, it was just a down payment.

There is much more to do.

We will address ways to reduce barriers to deployment in the near future.

Senator Schatz and I introduced the STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act a few weeks ago.

It reflects many months of hard work, of meetings with stakeholders from across the country, and of negotiation, and it is still a work in progress as we try to bring the benefits of 5G to American consumers, reap the benefits of 5G leadership for America, and respect the important role State and local governments play in deployment decisions.

It has been a pleasure working with Senator Schatz and his team, and I look forward to continuing our work.

But today, our focus is on spectrum.

It is the lifeblood of wireless communications.

If we do not have enough of the right kinds of spectrum available, we simply cannot have the speed and the connections we need.

This is particularly important for those of us in more rural parts of America.

The business cases for delivering 5G to New York and Chicago are much different than for Sioux Falls and Spearfish.

If inadequacy of spectrum resources makes 5G less viable, it will be the rural areas that no longer make business sense.

The Federal Communications Commission has concluded that next generation wireless networks will require efficient use of the low, mid, and high bands of spectrum.

The FCC, acting in a bipartisan manner, has moved forward with bold proposals to make thousands of megahertz of high-band spectrum available for licensed and unlicensed, fixed and mobile use, and it has proceedings underway to make even more high-band spectrum available.

And the broadcast incentive auction completed last year was an important contribution to much-needed low-band spectrum, although we must identify additional low-band spectrum for auction in the near future.

With regard to mid-band spectrum, however, the United States is falling significantly behind.

This is particularly troubling because mid-band spectrum is crucial to the initial deployment of 5G.

Both the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the FCC have taken important steps in the last several months to make mid-band spectrum available.

But the fact remains that only 150 megahertz of mid-band spectrum has been specifically identified for likely 5G use, and that is on a shared basis under a creative, but novel licensing scheme.

This puts us far behind both China and South Korea in this regard and represents a serious threat to American leadership of next-generation technology.

The FCC's current proceeding on the 3.7 to 4.2 GHz band is considering new approaches to get mid-band spectrum to market quickly, while protecting key satellite and related broadcast and cable operations in that band, including providers like Midco in South Dakota.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today on that matter.

While we pursue licensed spectrum for 5G, we must also be mindful of the critical role unlicensed spectrum plays throughout the communications landscape.

Wi-Fi operating on unlicensed spectrum is responsible for a tremendous and growing amount of the data transmitted in our homes and offices, and is expected to play an increasing role in the hand-off of traffic originating or terminating on licensed spectrum, as well as in the Internet of Things.

It was in recognition of these facts that MOBILE NOW required identifying 100 megahertz of spectrum below 8 gigahertz before 2023.

I recently wrote to the FCC noting that the 6 gigahertz band had particular promise for unlicensed use, and noting that much more unlicensed spectrum would be needed soon.

As we consider specific spectrum bands that can be made available for licensed and unlicensed use, we must also ensure that our policies and procedures keep spectrum in the pipeline.

In that regard, I want to commend the bipartisan work of Senators Wicker and Schatz on SPECTRUM NOW, and Senators Gardner and Hassan on the AIRWAVES Act.

I also appreciate that Senators Cruz Markey, and several other members of our Committee are actively exploring new ideas for making additional spectrum available.

Making the Spectrum Relocation Fund a better resource for studying spectrum and relocating federal incumbents is essential if we are to efficiently make federal spectrum available for commercial use.

Identifying spectrum resources not just for the next three years, but for the next 10 years and beyond is essential if we are to retain American leadership.

We have a distinguished panel before us today and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on how we can deliver the benefits of 5G to the American people and secure continuing American leadership in next-generation telecommunications.

I'll now turn to the Ranking Member for his opening remarks

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