Public Knowledge Welcomes Bipartisan “AIRWAVES Act” to Secure America’s Broadband, Wireless Future
Public Knowledge Welcomes Bipartisan “AIRWAVES Act” to Secure America’s Broadband, Wireless Future
Public Knowledge Welcomes Bipartisan “AIRWAVES Act” to Secure America’s Broadband, Wireless Future

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    Today, Rep. Leonard Lance (NJ-R) and Rep. Mike Doyle (PA-D) introduced the Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum, or “AIRWAVES,” Act. The AIRWAVES Act is the House companion to S.1682.

    Like the Senate bill, this legislation establishes a pipeline to move federal spectrum into commercial use, ensuring significant capacity for both exclusive use (“licensed”) spectrum and shared use (“unlicensed”) spectrum. The AIRWAVES Act also includes a proposal to take a portion of the spectrum auction proceeds to fund wireless infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas.

    The following can be attributed to Harold Feld, Senior Vice President at Public Knowledge:

    “This is exactly the sort of sensible, bipartisan approach we need to bring broadband to rural America. No fancy tricks or hidden agendas; just a straightforward plan to give providers the wireless capacity they need to serve their communities, combined with targeted funding for building towers and other infrastructure — and all without appropriating a single new federal dollar.

    “If Congressional leadership wants to bring broadband to all Americans rather than ‘broadband to the press release,’ both the House and the Senate will move to pass the AIRWAVES Act as quickly as possible.”

    Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.