Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) introduced legislation to remove the spectrum cap for third-generation wireless spectrum to be assigned by auction after Dec. 31. “The Third-Generation Wireless Internet” is not as far reaching as the spectrum cap repeal initiative Brownback planned to sponsor in July, before scrapping it after protests from some in the wireless industry. The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association wants the 45 megahertz commercial wireless spectrum cap lifted. The Personal Communications Industry Association opposes a wholesale removal of the spectrum cap, but said it does not oppose the scaled-back Brownback bill.
The Federal Communications Commission named NeuStar Inc. as the new North American Numbering Plan Administrator. The FCC said Lockheed Martin IMS Corp., the acting NANPA, violated agency neutrality requirements because it is a telecom service provider. NeuStar is a unit of Warburg, Pincus & Co., a registered investment firm with numerous telecom interests.
Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) is lead sponsor of new legislation to simplify wireless taxation. The current system is cumbersome for states and carriers because mobile-phone calls get taxed by multiple jurisdictions. Pickering’s bill would assign state and local taxes to a customer’s primary residence or business local, as would a similar bill pending in the Senate. The measure also incorporates wireless privacy legislation already passed by the House but not the Senate.
Greg Rohde took over last week as head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a unit of the Commerce Department that manages federal government spectrum and advises the president on telecom policy. The Senate confirmed Rohde, a former telecom aide to Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), on Nov. 10.
Rep. James McDermott (D-Wash.) has asked a Washington federal appeals court to review its decision earlier this year to allow Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) to pursue his wiretap lawsuit against McDermott. Boehner accuses McDermott of leaking to the media contents of an audio tape containing a House GOP strategy session that a Florida couple overheard on a radio scanner.
