[House Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
OVERSIGHT OF THE NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION
ADMINISTRATION
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
MARCH 6, 2018
__________
Serial No. 115-104
Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce
energycommerce.house.gov
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Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov
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COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
GREG WALDEN, Oregon
Chairman
JOE BARTON, Texas FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey
Vice Chairman Ranking Member
FRED UPTON, Michigan BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois
JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois ANNA G. ESHOO, California
MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee GENE GREEN, Texas
STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana DIANA DeGETTE, Colorado
ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania
CATHY McMORRIS RODGERS, Washington JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois
GREGG HARPER, Mississippi G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina
LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey DORIS O. MATSUI, California
BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky KATHY CASTOR, Florida
PETE OLSON, Texas JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland
DAVID B. McKINLEY, West Virginia JERRY McNERNEY, California
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois PETER WELCH, Vermont
H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico
GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida PAUL TONKO, New York
BILL JOHNSON, Ohio YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York
BILLY LONG, Missouri DAVID LOEBSACK, Iowa
LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana KURT SCHRADER, Oregon
BILL FLORES, Texas JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, III,
SUSAN W. BROOKS, Indiana Massachusetts
MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma TONY CARDENAS, California
RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina RAUL RUIZ, California
CHRIS COLLINS, New York SCOTT H. PETERS, California
KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan
TIM WALBERG, Michigan
MIMI WALTERS, California
RYAN A. COSTELLO, Pennsylvania
EARL L. ``BUDDY'' CARTER, Georgia
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina
7_____
Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
Chairman
LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania
Vice Chairman Ranking Member
JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois PETER WELCH, Vermont
STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York
ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio DAVID LOEBSACK, Iowa
BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky RAUL RUIZ, California
PETE OLSON, Texas DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois
GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida ANNA G. ESHOO, California
BILL JOHNSON, Ohio ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
BILLY LONG, Missouri G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina
BILL FLORES, Texas DORIS O. MATSUI, California
SUSAN W. BROOKS, Tennessee JERRY McNERNEY, California
CHRIS COLLINS, New York FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey (ex
KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota officio)
MIMI WALTERS, California
RYAN A. COSTELLO, Pennsylvania
GREG WALDEN, Oregon (ex officio)
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hon. Marsha Blackburn, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Tennessee, opening statement.......................... 2
Prepared statement........................................... 3
Hon. Michael F. Doyle, a Representative in Congress from the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, opening statement................ 4
Prepared statement........................................... 5
Hon. Greg Walden, a Representative in Congress from the State of
Oregon, opening statement...................................... 6
Prepared statement........................................... 8
Hon. Frank Pallone, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the
State of New Jersey, opening statement......................... 9
Prepared statement........................................... 10
Witness
David J. Redl, Assistant Secretary for Communications and
Information, National Telecommunications and Information
Administration, Department of Commerce......................... 11
Prepared statement........................................... 14
Answers to submitted questions............................... 52
Submitted Material
Letter of March 5, 2018, from Marc Rotenberg, President,
Electronic Privacy Information Center, et al., to Mrs.
Blackburn, et al., submitted by Mr. Doyle...................... 48
Letter of March 6, 2018, from Joy Ditto, President, CEO of the
Utilities Technology Council, to Mrs. Blackburn, et al.,
submitted by Mrs. Blackburn.................................... 50
OVERSIGHT OF THE NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION
ADMINISTRATION
----------
TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2018
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Communications and Technology,
Committee on Energy and Commerce,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:02 a.m., in
room 2123, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Marsha Blackburn
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Members present: Representatives Blackburn, Lance, Shimkus,
Latta, Guthrie, Kinzinger, Bilirakis, Johnson, Long, Flores,
Brooks, Collins, Walters, Costello, Walden (ex officio), Doyle,
Welch, Clarke, Loebsack, Ruiz, Eshoo, Butterfield, Matsui,
McNerney, and Pallone (ex officio).
Also present: Representative Tonko.
Staff present: Jon Adame, Policy Coordinator,
Communications and Technology; Jennifer Barblan, Chief Counsel,
Oversight and Investigations; Mike Bloomquist, Staff Director;
Karen Christian, General Counsel; Robin Colwell, Chief Counsel,
Communications and Technology; Sean Farrell, Professional Staff
Member, Communications and Technology; Adam Fromm, Director of
Outreach and Coalitions; Elena Hernandez, Press Secretary;
Bijan Koohmaraie, Counsel, Digital Commerce and Consumer
Protection; Tim Kurth, Deputy Chief Counsel, Communications and
Technology; Lauren McCarty, Counsel, Communications and
Technology; Drew McDowell, Executive Assistant; Austin
Stonebraker, Press Assistant; Evan Viau, Legislative Clerk,
Communications and Technology; Hamlin Wade, Special Advisor,
External Affairs; Everett Winnick, Director of Information
Technology; Jeff Carroll, Minority Staff Director; David
Goldman, Minority Chief Counsel, Communications and Technology;
Jerry Leverich, Minority Counsel; Dan Miller, Minority Policy
Analyst; and Tim Robinson, Minority Chief Counsel.
Mrs. Blackburn. Good morning. Come on, guys. Good morning.
All right. There we go. There we go.
I want to welcome everyone to the subcommittee hearing this
morning. And at this time I recognize myself for 5 minutes for
an opening statement.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE
And we want to begin by saying welcome to Mr. Redl. We are
delighted to see you here, and we are excited to provide some
oversight of NTIA since you've left us for the Administration,
and as you well know, several of this committee's top
priorities are carried out by the NTIA, not the least of which
is efficiently coordinating Federal usage of spectrum.
We are focused on making certain that you all are on task,
as are we, and because of this, I want to mention at the outset
that we are terribly disappointed with the snafu that occurred
on the testimony submission and on the one sheet that we
received that is an overview of testimony.
You know our process. You know that we respect that process
on both sides of the dais, and going forward, we would like to
ask for an accommodation of that process as provided by the
rules and also the expectations of the committee members.
Around the world, countries are racing to be the first to
5G. To be competitive the United States will need to
continually make available spectrum needed to build out these
networks.
It seems NTIA is hard at work identifying bands that could
be freed up for the commercial use, especially with the recent
announcement of 100 megahertz that you've identified as a
candidate band.
We fully recognize the challenge of balancing the need for
more spectrum with the significant national security and public
safety issues associated with clearing these bands.
We are looking forward to hearing from you this morning on
your plans of how you will help the United States maintain our
status as a global leader in the wireless space.
Of course, spectrum isn't the only priority NTIA has,
although we know that it is your favorite. The NTIA is also at
the forefront of coordinating Next Generation 9-1-1.
Just a few weeks ago, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of
the first 9-1-1 call that was made in Haleyville, Alabama. Yet,
we are still struggling to bring 9-1-1 into the 21st century.
It's unfortunate to hear that deployment of Next Gen 9-1-1
services are being stymied by States that divert much-needed
funding for non-9-1-1 purposes.
As NTIA and NHTSA Administrator State grants are taking
place, we need to ensure that there is adequate funding and
it's used efficiently.
And while we are on the topic of funding, let's not lose
sight of why we are here. As your oversight authority, it is
our duty in Congress to make sure that you have the tools you
need to succeed.
It is no doubt that we have loaded up your plate with
important priorities. But as we look to the fiscal year 2019
budget, we seek to get a better sense of what you need to get
the job done.
I am pleased to see that you have indeed hit the ground
running. I look forward to hearing more about your priorities
in spectrum management identification as you embark on these
issues.
[The prepared statement of Mrs. Blackburn follows:]
Prepared statement of Hon. Marsha Blackburn
Good morning and welcome back to the hearing room, Mr.
Redl! We sure are excited to provide some oversight of NTIA
since you've left us to the Administration. As you well know,
several of this committee's top priorities are carried out by
NTIA, not the least of which is efficiently coordinating
Federal usage of spectrum.
Around the world, countries are racing to be the first to
5G. To be competitive, the United States will need to
continually make available the spectrum needed to build out
these networks. It seems NTIA is hard at work identifying bands
that could be freed up for the commercial use, especially with
the recent announcement of 100MHz that you've identified as a
candidate band. We fully recognize the challenge of balancing
the need for more spectrum with the significant national
security and public safety issues associated with clearing
bands. I look forward to hearing your plans on how we maintain
our status as a global leader in the wireless space.
Of course, spectrum isn't the only priority NTIA has
(although we know it's your favorite). NTIA is also at the
forefront of coordinating Next Generation 9-1-1. Just a few
weeks ago, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first 9-1-
1 call made in Haleyville, Alabama. Yet we are still struggling
to bring 9-1-1 into the 21st century. It's unfortunate to hear
that deployment of Next Generation 9-1-1 services are being
stymied by States that divert much-needed funding for non-9-1-1
purposes. As NTIA and NHTSA administer State grants, we need to
ensure that any funding for Next Generation 9-1-1 is used
efficiently.
And while we're on the topic of funding, let's not lose
sight of why we're here. As your oversight authority, it is our
duty here in Congress to make sure you have the tools you need
to succeed. It is no doubt that we have loaded up your plate
with important priorities -but as we look to the fiscal year
2019 budget, we seek to get a better sense of what you need to
get the job done.
I'm pleased to see you've hit the ground running, and I
look forward to hearing more about your priorities as you
embark on these important issues. With that, I will yield 1
minute to the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Lance.
Mrs. Blackburn. And with that, I yield the remainder of my
time to Mr. Lance.
Mr. Lance. Thank you very much, Chairman Blackburn, and
thank you to Assistant Secretary Redl for appearing before us
today.
The agency charged with managing Federal spectrum, the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration,
plays a key role as the United States competes in a global race
to 5G.
As the demand for more mobile data and high speeds
continues to grow, it is critical that we make sure the Federal
Government is using its spectrum efficiently and free up unused
spectrum for commercial use, all while ensuring that agencies
are able to fulfill critical missions.
There are tough needs to balance, and I applaud Mr. Redl
for moving quickly and identifying 100 megahertz of midband
spectrum for potential commercial use.
I've recently introduced legislation with Ranking Member
Doyle, the Airwaves Act, which, among other things, also aims
to free up more Federal spectrum for commercial use.
I look forward to working with Mr. Doyle and with you, Mr.
Redl, on these efforts moving forward.
In addition to spectrum management, you also oversee
critical public safety matters related to the Next Generation
9-1-1 and FirstNet.
I thank our distinguished witness for appearing before us
today. I look forward to discussing these important issues with
you, and I yield back 6 seconds, Madam Chairman.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
Mr. Doyle, you're recognized for 5 minutes for an opening
statement.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL F. DOYLE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Mr. Doyle. Thank you, Madam Chair, for holding this
important hearing, and I'd like to also thank our witness,
Administrator David Redl, for being with us here today.
As it's been noted, Mr. Redl is no stranger to this
committee, having served as counsel and chief counsel for
Chairman Walden on this subcommittee.
During his time here, Mr. Redl spearheaded the majority's
effort on spectrum policy in internet governance and oversaw
and directed policy for the full breadth of this subcommittee's
jurisdiction.
And now, after what appeared to be a rather drawn-out
confirmation process, you've finally taken on the leadership of
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration,
the agency tasked with serving as the principal advisor to
President Trump on telecommunications and information policy
issues.
David, I want to wish you the best of luck with this
critical and quite challenging task. That being said, I also
understand that you went to Penn State, which is my alma mater,
and that you married a girl from Pittsburgh.
So this shows good judgment on your part, too.
[Laughter.]
But again, welcome back to the committee. Our world grows
more connected and interconnected by the day. The number of
connected devices will exceed the number of people on the
planet this year, and research suggests that the number of
connected devices will be more than twice the population of the
planet by 2020.
This incredible growth has been fueled by innovation,
investment, and access to wireless spectrum. The U.S.
Government remains the largest spectrum holder in the United
States, and NTIA is charged with managing Federal spectrum and,
as you recently announced, figuring out how to transition
additional spectrum to commercial use.
It is critical that as your agency moves forward that you
balance the needs of licensed and unlicensed industries. Our
leadership in wireless broadband, our success in 4G, and our
ability to successfully deploy 5G networks will depend entirely
on our ability to make available sufficient spectrum to meet
both communities' needs.
NTIA's recent announcement identifying 100 megahertz of
Federal spectrum to study for wireless broadband use is good
news, and it's a good example of the valuable role NTIA can
play in coordinating Federal spectrum use.
It's also a reminder of how important our Federal R&D
efforts are in this area. NTIA's research and engineering arm,
the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences located in
Boulder, is a critical part of this work.
Having objective researchers and engineers who can work
with Federal stakeholders to identify ways to free up or share
spectrum is critical for meeting our Nation's wireless needs
because navigating the tricky waters of interagency cooperation
and coordination is difficult, at best.
I'd like to also mention that the lab is led by a Carnegie
Mellon grad, Keith Gremban--more good judgment on their part.
Beyond spectrum, NTIA plays a key role as an interagency
and multistakeholder convener within the Government and with
commercial interest in civil society organizations.
NTIA has done good work on cybersecurity, privacy, the
Internet of Things, and unmanned aircraft. I believe that it is
critical that this work continues. We need thoughtful, fact-
based interagency leadership helping agencies navigate these
complicated topics.
More work needs to be done in these areas as they go from
being nascent innovations to globally deployed technologies and
challenges.
ICANN security is a particular concern to many. Our
Nation's digital infrastructure is under constant attack by
adversaries ranging from superpowers to script kiddies. And as
we move towards 5G and future network technologies, we need to
consider better how to bake security into these networks, how
to harden them against attacks and tampering.
It's my hope that NTIA can play a role in working with
industry and Government stakeholders as these networks are
being designed and deployed.
Among your additional responsibilities in the United
States' role in internet governance through ICANN, and while
our Nation's role is changing, I expect NTIA to continue
representing the United States' interest before the global
internet community of ICANN.
While ICANN's multistakeholder process can be cumbersome, I
hope that NTIA can continue to work through the governmental
advisory committee to protect our interest and work to maintain
a globally unified and connected internet.
I am also interested to see NTIA continue its work on
BroadbandUSA, digital literacy, and public safety.
I want to thank you. I look forward to your testimony and,
Madam Chair, I will yield back the remaining 13 seconds.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Doyle follows:]
Prepared statement of Hon. Michael F. Doyle
I'd like to thank Chairman Blackburn for holding this
important hearing, and I'd like to thank the witness,
Administrator David Redl, for being with us here today. As it
has been noted Mr. Redl is no stranger to this committee,
having served as counsel and chief counsel for Chairman Walden
on this subcommittee. During his time here, Mr. Redl
spearheaded the majority's efforts on spectrum policy and
internet governance, and oversaw and directed policy for the
full breadth of this subcommittee's jurisdiction.
And now, after what appeared to be a rather drawn-out
confirmation process you have finally taken on the leadership
of the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration, the agency tasked with serving as principal
adviser to President Trump on telecommunications and
information policy issues. I wish you the best of luck with
this critical and quite challenging task.
That being said, I also understand that you went to Penn
State, my alma mater, and while not from Pittsburgh you are
married to a Pittsburgher? Is that correct?
Well we can't all be perfect, but it's a step in the right
direction.
Again, welcome back.
Our world grows more connected and interconnected by the
day. The number of connected devices will exceed the number of
people on the planet this year, and research suggests that the
number of connected devices will be more than twice the
population of the planet by 2020. This incredible growth has
been fueled by innovation, investment, and access to wireless
spectrum.
The U.S. Government remains the largest spectrum holder in
the United States, and NTIA is charged with managing Federal
spectrum and, as you recently announced, figuring out how to
transition additional spectrum to commercial use.
It is critical that as your agency moves forward you
balance the needs of the licensed and unlicensed industries.
Our leadership in wireless broadband, our success in 4G, and
our ability to successfully deploy 5G networks will depend
entirely on our ability to make available sufficient spectrum
to meet both communities' needs.
NTIA's recent announcement identifying 100 mega-hertz of
Federal spectrum to study for wireless broadband use is great
news, and it's a good example of the valuable role NTIA can
play in coordinating Federal spectrum use. It is also a
reminder of how important our Federal R&D efforts are in this
area.
NTIA's research and engineering arm, the Institute for
Telecommunications Sciences located in Boulder, is a critical
part of this work.
Having objective researchers and engineers who can work
with Federal stakeholders to identify ways to free up or share
spectrum is critical for meeting our Nation's wireless needs,
because navigating the tricky waters of interagency cooperation
and coordination is difficult at best. I'd also mention that
the lab is led by a Carnegie Mellon grad, Keith Gremban.
Beyond spectrum, NTIA plays a key role as an interagency
and multistakeholder convener within the Government and with
commercial interests and civil society organizations. NTIA has
done good work on cyber security, privacy, IT, and unmanned
aircraft. I believe that it is critical that this work
continue. We need thoughtful, fact-based interagency leadership
helping agencies navigate these complicated topics. More work
needs to be done in these areas as they go from being nascent
innovations to globally deployed technologies and challenges.
Cybersecurity is of particular concern to many. Our
Nation's digital infrastructure is under constant attack, by
adversaries ranging from superpowers to script kiddies.
As we move toward 5G and future network technologies, we
need to consider better how to bake security into these
networks--and how to harden them against attacks and tampering.
It is my hope that NTIA can play a role in working with
industry and Government stakeholders as these networks are
being designed and deployed.
Among your additional responsibilities is the United
States' role in Internet governance through ICANN. While our
Nation's role is changing, I expect NTIA to continue
representing the United States' interests before the global
internet community at ICANN. While, ICANN's multistakeholder
process can be cumbersome, I hope that NTIA can continue to
work through the Governmental Advisory Committee to protect our
interests and work to maintain a globally unified and connected
internet.
I'm also interested to see NTIA continue its work on
BroadbandUSA, digital literacy, and public safety.
Thank you, and I look forward to your testimony.
Mrs. Blackburn. We are on a roll this morning.
Mr. Walden.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. GREG WALDEN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OREGON
Mr. Walden. Good morning, Madam Chair, and before we get
started, I want to wish your counsel there, Tim Kurth, a happy
birthday, I understand. There you go.
[Applause.]
We won't sing to you. That'll be your present from me: no
singing.
And Mr. Redl, good morning. Welcome back, Mr. Assistant
Secretary. We have been looking forward to this moment for, oh,
a very long time.
[Laughter.]
Energy and Commerce have been leading the way to close the
digital divide, and for over a year now we have held hearings
on broadband deployment and sought ways to incentivize buildout
and our Telecom Subcommittee, which you're intimately familiar
with, has held legislative hearings on numerous infrastructure
proposals this year and, last, they provide plenty of
opportunity for the committee and NTIA to work together toward
achieving this end and closing the digital divide in the
country.
As the Energy and Commerce Committee continues to identify
ways to accelerate broadband deployment, we first need to know
which areas are truly unserved. Those areas need to be
prioritized first.
Mapping efforts have been in the past undertaken by NTIA,
but responsibility shifted to the FCC in 2014 when funding
lapsed.
And, while we appreciate the Federal Communications
Commission's efforts in this recall to improve the Form 477
data, we need a better-funded NTIA to be able to aggregate that
information with the data from multiple outlets across the
States with other innovative ideas that are popping up to
harness deployment coverage that may not get submitted in the
carriers' compliance with the FCC process.
In other words, you have the opportunity, if you're funded,
to give us the data we need and that consumers want.
As you all recall, this committee held a hearing on
broadband mapping just last June to discuss how we can better
define and map granular broadband coverage, and one of the
proposals that flowed from that is Congressman Johnson's H.R.
4810, with the support of Congressman Guthrie.
That gets things moving again at NTIA. So I am pleased that
those efforts have already yielded some progress as the Trump
administration is asking our friends at the Appropriations
Committee for $50 million for NTIA to get back into this very
important work.
The last time policymakers moved ahead without adequate
mapping, they spent billions of dollars and didn't even have a
sense of what we got for it. They spent the money before we had
the maps.
This time around, we want to make sure we get the maps
first and take care of the people most in need of this
assistance to close the digital divide.
And as we move ahead on ways to accelerate broadband
buildout, we are beginning to see the buildout of another
important network, and that's FirstNet, which obviously we were
very involved in back in the time when we put that legislation
together.
With all the States and the territories having now opted
in, FirstNet should be full steam ahead, building out the
Nation's public safety broadband network to make sure our
public safety professionals have interoperable mission-critical
access to broadband.
As we saw with 9/11 and have since seen with active shooter
scenarios and natural disasters, such as wildfires in Oregon
and California and elsewhere, interoperability is critical for
first responders and the people they serve.
As NTIA continues its oversight of FirstNet, I look forward
to seeing the implementation of the FirstNet plan.
Finally, this agency plays an important role in assessing
policy challenges across a gamut of issues. From spectrum
allocation to public safety, NTIA has a full plate, and we are
glad you're there.
As we continue our oversight of the agency, we should
consider how its role should evolve given its prominence in
communications and information policy.
Given the role NTIA plays in driving the American economy
forward, it's vital that the agency has the tools it needs to
establish an environment that fosters competition and
innovation, and I know you want to lead the agency in that
positive direction going forward. We want to be your partner in
that effort.
We thank you for being here today, and unless anybody else
wants the remaining minute of my time, I am more than happy to
yield it back and begin our process.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Walden follows:]
Prepared statement of Hon. Greg Walden
Good morning and welcome back, Assistant Secretary Redl! We
have been looking forward to this moment for quite some time.
Energy and Commerce has long been leading the charge to
close the digital divide. For over a year now, we have held
hearings on broadband deployment and sought ways to incentivize
buildout. Our telecom subcommittee recently held a legislative
hearing on numerous infrastructure proposals that provide
plenty of opportunity for the committee and NTIA to work
together toward this end.
As the Energy and Commerce Committee continues to identify
ways to accelerate broadband deployment, we first need to know
which areas are truly unserved, so those areas are prioritized
first. Mapping efforts have in the past been undertaken by
NTIA, but responsibility shifted to the FCC in 2014 when the
funding lapsed.
While we appreciate the FCC's efforts to improve the Form-
477 data, we need a better-funded NTIA to be able to aggregate
that information with the data from multiple outlets across the
States and with other innovative ideas that are popping up to
harness deployment coverage that may not get submitted in a
carrier's compliance with the FCC process.
As you all will recall, this committee held a hearing on
broadband mapping last June to discuss how we can better define
and map granular broadband coverage. One of the proposals that
flowed from that is Congressman Johnson's H.R. 4810, with
support from Congressman Guthrie, that gets things moving again
at NTIA. I'm pleased that those efforts have already yielded
some progress as the administration is asking our friends at
the Appropriations Committee for $50 million for NTIA to get
back in this space.
The last time policymakers moved ahead without adequate
mapping, we spent billions of dollars and didn't ever have a
sense of what we got for it. This time around, we are going to
get the mapping right. It is critical.
And as we move ahead on ways to accelerate broadband
buildout, we're beginning to see the buildout of another
important network: FirstNet. With all States and territories
having now opted in, FirstNet should be full steam ahead
building out the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network to
make sure our public safety professionals have interoperable,
mission-critical access to broadband. As we saw with 9/11 and
have since seen with active shooter scenarios and natural
disasters, such as the wildfires in Oregon, interoperability is
critical for first responders. As NTIA continues its oversight
of FirstNet, I look forward to seeing the implementation of the
FirstNet plan.
Finally, this agency plays an important role in assessing
policy challenges across a gamut of issues. From spectrum
allocation to public safety, NTIA has a full plate. As we
continue our oversight of the agency, we should consider how
its role should evolve given its prominence in communications
and information policy. Given the role NTIA plays in driving
the American economy, it is vital that the agency has the tools
it needs to establish an environment that fosters competition
and innovation.
Mr. Walden. With that, I'll yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
Mr. Pallone, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR., A REPRESENTATIVE
IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Mr. Pallone. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
The National Telecommunications and Information
Administration, or NTIA, has not always received the same
attention as the FCC. But that doesn't mean it's any less
important.
The agency has quietly driven many of our Nation's
communications policies from behind the scenes, and that's a
good thing in the Trump administration, where most agencies
have a hard time staying out of the headlines.
Case in point: The FCC has thrust itself into the national
spotlight by dramatically walking away from its statutory
obligations to serve the American people.
It's more than just their assault on net neutrality. It's
privacy, cybersecurity, public safety--the list goes on and on,
and the Trump FCC is simply refusing to do its job.
And so I look forward to hearing from the new leadership at
NTIA about what they can do to fill the tremendous void left by
the FCC.
I know that Administrator Redl has a deep understanding of
these issues, and I hope he also understands that his agency
must now step up to improve and secure our communications
networks for the future.
And I am particular interested in hearing how NTIA will
handle cybersecurity as we move to more robust next-generation
wireless networks and the Internet of Things.
The administration itself has pointed out how vulnerable
our wireless networks will be if the Government does not do
more to protect them, and NTIA has an important role in
figuring out how to make sure that they are secure.
But NTIA needs to do more than just defend our networks
from attacks. The agency must also find better ways to protect
our privacy.
During previous administrations, NTIA worked actively to
protect our private information through a multistakeholder
approach, and, now that congressional Republicans ripped away
our online privacy, we need to know whether Administrator Redl
plans to increase the NTIA's efforts to oversee our private
information online.
But NTIA's responsibilities do not end with privacy and
security. The agency must also take an active role in
encouraging broadband deployment and improving our Nation's
broadband maps.
Democratic members of this committee have introduced the
LIFT America Act, which directs NTIA to distribute $40 billion
to extend our broadband networks to Americans in every corner
in the country.
Ensuring that NTIA is the agency that's distributing these
funds is critical. The FCC already manages the Universal
Service Fund, which operates independently for many
appropriations, and changing that now by comingling USF with
appropriated funds would be a mistake and would risk its long-
term sustainability.
That's why the LIFT America Act would direct NTIA to handle
broadband infrastructure funding, and I would like to hear how
Administrator Redl would handle this responsibility.
And finally, I am interested to learn how Administrator
Redl plans to deal with internet governance and our
international commitments.
Senator Cruz has been pushing for the U.S. to walk away
from our agreements regarding ICANN, and I strongly believe
that Senator Cruz is playing right into Russia's hands in their
efforts to shake global confidence in our Government.
Ultimately, these efforts could undermine the integrity of
the internet. I was even more disappointed to see that Senator
Cruz tried to use the confirmation process to force
Administrator Redl to commit to undermining our country's good
will overseas.
These commitments are counterproductive, and I would
therefore like to hear from the Administrator whether he has
promised a predetermined outcome to his proceedings relating to
America's oversight of ICANN.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Pallone follows:]
Prepared statement of Hon. Frank Pallone, Jr.
The National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) has not always received the same
attention as the FCC, but that doesn't mean it's any less
important. The agency has quietly driven many of our Nation's
communications policies from behind the scenes. That's a good
thing in the Trump administration, where most agencies have a
hard time staying out of the headlines.
Case in point: the FCC has thrust itself into the national
spotlight by dramatically walking away from its statutory
obligations to serve the American people. It's more than just
their assault on net neutrality. It's privacy, cybersecurity,
public safety--the list goes on and on. The Trump FCC is simply
refusing to do its job.
So I look forward to hearing from the new leadership at
NTIA about what they can do to fill the tremendous void left by
the FCC. I know that Administrator Redl has a deep
understanding of these issues. And I hope he also understands
that his agency must now step up to improve and secure our
communications networks for the future.
I am particularly interested in hearing how NTIA will
handle cybersecurity as we move to more robust next-generation
wireless networks and the Internet of Things. The
administration itself has pointed out how vulnerable our
wireless networks will be if the Government does not do more to
protect them. NTIA has an important role in figuring out how to
make sure they are secure.
But NTIA needs to do more than just defend our networks
from attacks. The agency must also find better ways to protect
our privacy. During previous administrations, NTIA actively
worked to protect our private information through a
multistakeholder approach. Now that Congressional Republicans
ripped away our online privacy, we need to know whether
Administrator Redl plans to increase NTIA's efforts to oversee
our private information online.
But NTIA's responsibilities do not end with privacy and
security--the agency must also take an active role in
encouraging broadband deployment and improving our Nation's
broadband maps. Democratic members of this committee have
introduced the LIFT America Act, which directs NTIA to
distribute $40 billion to extend our broadband networks to
Americans in every corner of the country.
Ensuring that NTIA is the agency that distributes these
funds is critical. The FCC already manages the Universal
Service Fund, which operates independently from any
appropriations. Changing that now by comingling USF with
appropriated funds would be a mistake and would risk its long-
term sustainability. That's why the LIFT America Act would
direct NTIA to handle broadband infrastructure funding. I would
like to hear how Administrator Redl would handle this
responsibility.
Finally, I'm interested to learn how Administrator Redl
plans to deal with internet governance and our international
commitments. Senator Cruz has been pushing for the U.S. to walk
away from our agreements regarding ICANN. I believe strongly
that Senator Cruz is playing right in to Russia's hands in
their efforts to shake global confidence in our Government.
Ultimately these efforts could undermine the integrity of the
internet.
I was even more disappointed to see Senator Cruz try to use
the confirmation process to force Administrator Redl to commit
to undermining our country's good will overseas. These
commitments are counterproductive. I would therefore like to
hear from the Administrator whether he has promised a
predetermined outcome to his proceedings relating to America's
oversight of ICANN.
With that, I yield the rest of my time.
Mr. Pallone. So I don't know if anyone on my side wants
the time that remains. If not, Madam Chair, I would yield the
rest of my time.
Mrs. Blackburn. The gentleman yields back.
Assistant Secretary Redl, we are delighted that you are
here this morning.
We appreciate your taking the time to come and we
appreciate your testimony, and at this time I recognize you for
5 minutes for an opening statement.
STATEMENT OF DAVID J. REDL, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR
COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION, NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND
INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Mr. Redl. Thank you.
Chairman Blackburn, Ranking Member Doyle, members of the
subcommittee, it's a pleasure to be back before the Energy and
Commerce Committee.
At the outset, I wanted to take this opportunity to
congratulate the committee on advancing RAY BAUM'S Act. As many
of you know, I spent 7 years working here on the majority staff
alongside Ray Baum, and it's more than a little bittersweet to
be back in 2123 without him here.
But I am pleased to be here on the day that RAY BAUM'S Act
will get its moment on the floor. Ray spent his life working in
public service, and the RAY BAUM Act is a beautiful tribute to
a wonderful person, and it's all the more fitting that it's
being done by this committee through consensus.
Consensus is similarly at the heart of what we do at NTIA.
For example, given our dual mandate from Congress to protect
Government incumbent operations and to make more spectrum
available for commercial use, getting to yes requires quite a
bit of consensus building.
Thanks to the hard work of our Interdepartmental Radio
Advisory Committee, NTIA was recently pleased to announce the
selection of 3450 megahertz to 3550 megahertz as a candidate
for reallocation to commercial services.
While we still have a lot of work to do to determine how to
protect Government incumbents that are in this band, the
spectrum is immediately adjacent to the FCC's Citizens
Broadband Radio Service spectrum and could help fuel our
Nation's leadership in 5G.
Just next door is the 3.5 gigahertz spectrum, and NTIA's
Institute for Telecommunications Sciences, which is located in
Boulder, Colorado, is working to bring CBRS to life.
The heart of this innovative spectrum band are two
systems--Spectrum Access System and the Environmental Sensing
Capability--that will allow commercial uses to coexist with
Navy radar systems.
ITS is working with all interested stakeholders to certify
these systems that are necessary to bring the band to market.
Combined with the FCC's recent announcement on C-band
spectrum, our efforts could make as much as 750 megahertz of
contiguous midband spectrum available to meet our Nation's 5G
needs.
In addition to our spectrum work at NTIA, we work
extensively to represent U.S. interests before consensus-based
organizations like ICANN and the International
Telecommunication Union.
The ITU's Plenipotentiary Conference is coming up at the
end of this year, and we are working with our colleagues at the
Department of State to finalize U.S. positions and develop
strategies to advance U.S. interests.
Additionally, we are actively working to promote the U.S.
candidate to lead the ITU's development sector, Doreen Bogdan-
Martin. Doreen's a former NTIA employee who spent many years
working at the ITU Secretariat in Geneva to advance
telecommunications policy around the globe. She's incredibly
qualified, and I am proud to support her candidacy.
Importantly, if she's elected, Doreen would be the first
woman to hold any of the ITU's five leadership elected
positions in the union's 153-year history.
Finally, I'd like to highlight the good work the Department
of Commerce had been doing to improve our Nation's
cybersecurity.
President Trump has made it clear that securing our
communications networks is a national security priority, and
the Department of Commerce plays a critical role in this
national effort.
Whether it's NIST's work on the cybersecurity framework or
NTIA's work on multistakeholder processes, under Secretary
Wilbur Ross' leadership, the Department is the commercial
internet's voice within the executive branch.
In January, the Departments of Commerce and Homeland
Security issued a draft report on actions that can be taken to
address the threat of botnets.
The report outlines a positive vision for the future with
goals and tasks that would improve the resiliency of the
internet ecosystem.
We know that these automated distributed threats are a
global problem and that no single sector can fix the problem in
isolation. But we also know there are effective tools that can
help mitigate these threats but are not consistently used.
The challenge of distributed threats is exacerbated by the
volume of devices as we move to the Internet of Things, and I
believe the greatest challenge for realizing the full potential
of IoT will be cybersecurity.
Many do not think of their thermostats, light bulbs, cars,
or appliances as digital devices that may carry cybersecurity
risks. But in the age of IoT, they can.
If we want to promote innovation and growth, we must ensure
that America can trust the IoT devices in their lives.
Late last year, one of NTIA's open multistakeholder
processes produced agreement on documents focused on IoT
security and patching, and we continue to engage with the IoT
and security communities to promote the security of the devices
on which we are increasingly reliant.
Throughout all of this work, NTIA has consistently looked
to create as many avenues for engagement with the private
sector as possible. That will continue under my watch.
The communications and information sectors are the backbone
of the economy, and they are too important not to get right.
The United States must continue to lead as new technologies,
including 5G, emerge, and we must continue to harness this
growth for American businesses and American workers.
It will take hard work and a lot of listening to maintain
America's leadership in the communications world. That will be
my focus as NTIA's Administrator.
Thank you again for inviting me. I am really happy to be
here testifying, and I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Redl follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mrs. Blackburn. We thank the gentleman for the testimony.
Thank you so much, and keeping on time today. This is a good
thing. Off to a good start.
I want to yield myself 5 minutes for questions and use this
time--I've just got two questions I want you to go a little bit
further on in your explanation.
As we are continuing this transition to Next Gen 9-1-1 and
looking at the PSAPs across the country that are responsible
for their service areas with oversight from their State, I want
you to talk a little bit more about how NTIA is going to help
facilitate a successful nationwide transition to the Next Gen
9-1-1 and then also, as looking at the money, how you are going
to make certain that these Federal dollars are pointed and
explicitly used, and then I am going to come to you for a
second question on IANA.
So, short responses welcome.
Mr. Redl. Thank you, Chairman.
On Next Generation 9-1-1, as you're aware, this is a shared
responsibility that NTIA has through our coordination that we
work together with our colleagues at the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration.
NHTSA and NTIA have been working over the last year to put
together a grant program that was envisioned by the Middle
Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.
We are in the final stages of coordinating that process
through the executive branch and are optimistic that we will be
able to have those grants out to companies and groups that are
working on 9-1-1 policy by the end of this calendar year.
So we are real excited about moving forward on this. There
is--I believe it's $115 million that was allocated for this
purpose in middle-class tax relief, and we are getting ready to
do the grant program that Congress asked us to do.
Mrs. Blackburn. Excellent. We appreciate that, and I will
tell you we have heard from several of our local governments
wanting--as they are looking at revamps or where they may have
voids in their system and especially as you look at public
safety, school safety, things of that nature, they are curious
as to what that process and that time line is going to be. So
good communication on that is going to be helpful.
You touched on the IANA transition. So if you will
elaborate a little bit more about that transition and how you
see it going and what you think next steps are going to be.
Mr. Redl. Sure.
The IANA transition is complete. It was completed, and at
this point the U.S. Government's role in IANA is limited to our
function as the U.S. representative on ICANN's Government
Advisory Committee.
I know a lot has been made about what commitments were made
and what my personal opinions are on the IANA transition. So I
appreciate the opportunity to sort of clear the air.
I made my personal opinion known in my confirmation
hearing, which I think it would be very difficult to put the
genie back in the bottle on ICANN.
ICANN is out there engaging in doing the IANA functions as
envisioned through the transition. But my personal opinion
certainly shouldn't carry the day as the opinion of an entire
Federal agency.
So in the confirmation process, in my conversations with
Senator Cruz and Senator Lee, I committed to a process to
looking at these things as agencies are supposed to, to ask
questions and seek expert input and formulate an opinion of the
Administration based on feedback from experts in their fields.
I continue to be working with Secretary Ross' office in
trying to find a way to get more feedback on this. But in the
meantime, we are, at NTIA, continuing to serve in the role that
we are supposed to as our representative to ICANN.
Mrs. Blackburn. And as you look at recouping spectrum, the
100 megahertz, you want to say just a little bit about what you
think the potential is there?
Mr. Redl. I am sorry. What spectrum?
Mrs. Blackburn. Spectrum.
Mr. Redl. Just spectrum in general?
Mrs. Blackburn. Yes.
Mr. Redl. We are spending--you know, a good half of the
people at NTIA spend all day working on spectrum issues, and,
as this subcommittee is painfully aware, it's an issue I care a
lot about. I spent a lot of time here as a staffer working on
those issues.
We were incredibly pleased to be able to make the
announcement about 3450 to 3550 as a candidate for additional
study, and we also continue to make progress on the
recommendations and the requirements that are required under
the Spectrum Pipeline Act.
It's by no means the only band we are looking at, and
certainly we are continuing to look across the entire
electromagnetic spectrum at ways to make sure we are both
meeting the mandate to make commercial services spectrum
available but protecting Government incumbent operations and
their critical missions.
Mrs. Blackburn. The gentleman yields back.
And Mr. Doyle, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Doyle. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I am concerned about the FCC. It seems they have so
drastically walked away from their role of protecting American
public's communication networks from cyberattack. I think the
FCC's failure in this area is part of the reason we saw that
bizarre 5G nationalization memo come out of the National
Security Council.
Administrator, putting aside the prescription put forth by
that memo, can you agree with the diagnosis that the Government
must be doing more to secure our networks and the supply chain
for 5G technology, particularly in light of the recent
revelations about vulnerabilities to currently deployed LTE
networks?
Mr. Redl. Ranking Member Doyle, I thank you for the
question.
Yes, I can agree with that, and I think the President has
made clear that he also would agree that we need to do more.
The President's national security strategy listed 5G
security as a national security threat and so, across the
Federal Government, we are all trying to coordinate defined
ways to push security to the forefront to continue to make
security of our communications networks a priority.
Mr. Doyle. I know during your confirmation that you made a
commitment to Senator Cruz to start a process of reevaluating
the ICANN transition, as you stated early. I just want to be
certain you did not agree to any specific outcome of the
process, just that you would start a process?
Mr. Redl. That's correct.
Mr. Doyle. And can you also just commit to the bipartisan
leadership of this committee that you'll just keep us apprised
of any process NTIA might be running on revising ICANN
transition?
Mr. Redl. Of course we will be responsive to the
committee.
Mr. Doyle. Thank you.
At the beginning of this Congress, every Democratic member
of this committee introduced the LIFT America Act to help
promote secure and resilient infrastructure for the American
people.
Title I of the LIFT America Act would allocate $40 billion
to NTIA to build out broadband to 98 percent of the country.
One thing that is not explicitly included in the LIFT America
Act is grantmaking authority for the NTIA.
In your view, should we include grantmaking authority for
the NTIA and the broadband deployment program in the LIFT
America Act?
Mr. Redl. At NTIA, we have been looking, as part of the
administration's process of coming up with a plan for
infrastructure, at all the ways that we can help to bring
broadband infrastructure to every corner of this country.
You know, certainly, I would never say that we should not
have every tool available in the toolkit, and grantmaking
authority is one of those tools.
If Congress were to give us that authority, then certainly
we would make the best use of it.
Mr. Doyle. So NTIA's Institute for Telecommunication
Sciences is instrumental to your mission of coordinating
Federal spectrum use and working with Federal stakeholders on
clearing bands and sharing them.
Do you believe that ITS has sufficient funding for that
mission considering the drive for more sharing in Federal
bands, as the case is with CBRS band?
Mr. Redl. You know, Mr. Doyle, I am particularly proud of
the work that ITS does. I think they are a really unsung part
of the Federal Government.
The hard work they do on basic R&D, on spectrum
interference, and on the electromagnetic interference is a
critical part of what we do.
They work tirelessly and are a critical part of making sure
that as we look to repurpose more spectrum that we have
accurate and actionable data on how Federal and non-Federal
systems will work together.
I certainly would welcome support for what they do. It's a
critical part of our hard work, and thank you for your
recognition of that.
Mr. Doyle. Thanks.
As I mentioned in my statement, I think NTIA has done good
work in bringing stakeholders together from inside and outside
of Government to address these complex and emerging topics.
Do you plan to continue that work and, if so, what are the
topics that you plan to address?
Mr. Redl. So we are in the process of figuring out how
best to engage on all of these topics with the private sector.
But, as I mentioned in my opening statement, we think that
engagement with the private sector is what NTIA really brings
to the table as a value add.
We have had a lot of success in bringing stakeholders
together and finding ways to get to yes. Under my tenure, I
plan to continue finding as many ways as possible to get the
private sector on board with Government priorities and have
them be done in a way that drives consensus.
Mr. Doyle. Thank you. I wish you well.
Mr. Redl. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Doyle. Madam Chair, I yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
Mr. Walden, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Walden. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
In its fiscal year 2019 budget request, NTIA asked for
congressional authorization to negotiate leases with private
entities to expand their access to Federal spectrum. It's a
novel idea.
Can you elaborate on how NTIA leases would differ from
traditional licenses, and should a leaseholder have an
expectation of automatic renewal of a lease?
Mr. Redl. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The leasing option is a particularly interesting tool that
we are trying to bring to bear on this challenge. We all know,
in this subcommittee, that clearing is still the gold standard,
and the law is clear that NTIA needs to focus on clearing as
its first option.
But there are some bands that Federal users are in where
clearing just won't be an option, where those systems are
either specific to that frequency band or the costs to relocate
and improve those systems would exceed any potential revenue,
which would fail this test under the Commercial Spectrum
Enhancement Act.
But our mission is to try and find ways to use the spectrum
as efficiently as possible, and so the request for leasing
authority is a way to add an additional tool to our toolkit.
In those areas where we can't clear, there are other
efficiencies that could be gained through leasing. I certainly
don't want to prejudge what those leases or what the terms
could look like.
That would have to be part of our consultation not only
with folks in the industry but also with the Congress as part
of the process.
But we are really excited about the prospect of having more
tools to bring to make spectrum available for commercial use.
Mr. Walden. And I want to commend you again on your work
to identify Government spectrum that can be potentially cleared
and made available for auction. It's a ongoing quest we share,
a goal to achieve. And so I want to commend you on that.
There has been debate in Congress for several years about
Spectrum Relocation Fund, specifically proposals to allow the
Office of Management and Budget to borrow money from the
Treasury for relocation purposes prior to auction proceeds
being deposited into the fund from an auction.
How important is this ability to borrow funds for
relocation purposes?
Mr. Redl. The SRF, the Spectrum Relocation Fund, has been
probably the most critical tool that we have had to provide
incentives to agencies to find ways to be more efficient.
The changes that were originated in this committee in 2012
and again in 2015 have made real improvements to our ability to
make that money available to agencies so that the individual
agencies don't bear the risk up front of the potential for
relocation.
We are continuing to look at ways to improve the SRF. The
SRF is why we were able to make the announcement on 3450 to
3550 and so many of the other projects we are working on to
bring spectrum to market. So anything Congress can do to
bolster the SRF is certainly welcome.
Mr. Walden. And speaking of auctions, as you know, in the
RAY BAUM'S Act, we fix the issue regarding deposit of proceeds.
How important is that fix to allowing auctions to go forward?
Mr. Redl. Well, that's an issue for the FCC Chairman. I
mean, that is--Section 309(j) of the Communications Act is
their venue and not mine.
That being said, anything that would stand in the way of
bringing more spectrum to market I think is a challenge that is
worthy of tackling.
Mr. Walden. OK.
Given the costs CBO believes comes with the--back to SRF
now--policy, does it make sense to amend the SRF and grant
greater flexibility in the same bill in which we authorize an
additional spectrum auction? Do you need more flexibility
there?
Mr. Redl. I mean, no Federal employee has every said,
``No, I would like less flexibility in how I do my job,'' and I
am certainly not going to be the first.
So more flexibility is always welcomed. You know, as to
which bill you would put that in, sir, I think that's a
question for you all to answer, not for me.
Mr. Walden. I appreciate your candor on both points.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Walden. And we look forward to working with you going
forward. With that, Madam Chairman, I'll yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields. Mr.----
Mr. Walden. Before I do that, could we recognize the
Assistant Secretary's wife, who is here--Amy Redl, right there
in the front row. Delighted.
Mr. Redl. She'll be very embarrassed. Thank you, sir.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Walden. Yes, I'm in trouble now.
[Applause.]
Mrs. Blackburn. We are glad that she is here to witness
this, because we know that she will critique him.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Walden. As she should.
Mr. Doyle. I think she's good for him.
Mrs. Blackburn. Yes, and she's from Pittsburgh.
Mr. Doyle. And those Pittsburgh girls are tough.
Mrs. Blackburn. That's right. Making Mr. Doyle's day. OK.
Mr. Pallone is not here, so let's go on down. Ms. Clarke,
you're recognized.
Ms. Clarke. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and I thank
our ranking member as well, and let me add my voice to those
who said you made a very smooth transition into this position,
and I commend you for the work that you're doing.
Assistant Secretary Redl, as you're aware, I introduced the
Spectrum Pipeline Act in 2015, which later was incorporated
into the bipartisan budget bill of 2015.
And because my bill became law, the Federal Government and
the NTIA gained access to new research and development funding
to help free up Federal spectrum used by the American people.
NTIA recently announced that it will study how to make 100
megahertz of spectrum available for use in 5G networks. Can you
explain how the availability of research and development
funding stemming from my Spectrum Pipeline Act is helping to
aid this effort?
Mr. Redl. Absolutely. And Ms. Clarke, I'd like to start
off by also saying it was a pleasure to work with you and your
staff on that Spectrum Pipeline Act in 2015.
The availability of that funding is what's making it
possible for us to continue driving forward. Making the
research money available to figure out whether or not agencies
will be able to make spectrum available has been a criterion to
getting to yes, and Congress rightly heard the concerns from
the agencies that that funding being provided after the work
had been done was a real impediment to their budgeting
processes.
So it is part of the reason that we were able to make 3450
to 3550 announcement as a candidate band, and thank you for
that help.
Ms. Clarke. Very well.
This month, Congressman Issa and I plan to launch the
Congressional Caucus on Smart Cities to bring American
communities into the 21st century through innovation and
technological change.
We believe that embracing smart technology will make our
communities more sustainable, resilient, efficient, livable,
and competitive in a world in which technology is constantly
advancing.
For its part, I applaud the work that NTIA's BroadbandUSA
office to promote smart cities. This work spans both Democratic
and Republican administrations and includes initiatives like
providing toolkits to help communities use partnerships to
build smart cities and hosting webcasts to help communities
better understand why broadband is necessary for making this
Government smarter--their Government smarter.
Assistant Secretary Redl, in your view, why is it important
that cities use technological advances in serving their
constituencies?
Mr. Redl. I mean, I have spent my entire career trying to
advance communications and technology. So it's a bit self-
serving, but I feel like this is an area where we have been
able to produce a lot of gains for folks, whether they are in
smart cities or rural areas, whether they are low income or
wealthy, and I continue to believe that that's the case.
I thank you for recognizing the hard work that the
Department of Commerce is doing on these issues. I think it's
important to note that, in addition to the hard work that the
BroadbandUSA team is doing, our sister agency NIST is also
doing a lot of work on smart city and really developing some of
the standards and some of the frameworks that are going to be
critical to this work going forward.
Ms. Clarke. And can you commit that promoting the growth
of secure and resilient smart cities across our Nation will be
a priority of yours during your time leading the NTIA?
Mr. Redl. We are working on it now, and we plan to
continue working on it.
Ms. Clarke. Awesome. And would the BroadbandUSA office be
able to do more projects like those I described if Congress
budgeted additional resources for the program?
Mr. Redl. You know, certainly if there are more resources
available, BroadbandUSA would continue doing more work in their
field.
You know, we are doing as much as we can within our budget,
and we will continue to make the most we can to do more with
less in that budget.
Ms. Clarke. Very well. And as a co-sponsor of the AIRWAVES
Act, I am so pleased to see bipartisan support for progress on
spectrum. I am curious if there are changes you would make to
that bill, and are we missing any bands that you would like to
include?
Mr. Redl. So the Trump administration doesn't have an
official position on the AIRWAVES Act, but it's sort of a
threshold matter, I would say.
I think we are looking at NTIA across all of the Federal
assets--all of the Federal spectrum holdings--to see where
there are opportunities to move forward, where there are
opportunities to be more efficient, to consolidate operations,
and we would love to continue working with your office and with
other Members as you look at different bands that are going
forward.
Ms. Clarke. Very well. And does NTIA have any plans to
initiate new multistakeholder processes to address some of the
issues surrounding internet policy today? If so, what are the
topics to be examined?
Mr. Redl. So we are continuing to flesh out how we are
going to approach these issues, and as we work our way through
the interagency process, because most internet issues, while
NTIA has a very strong role in them, involve coordination
across the Federal Government, we will certainly keep the
committee apprised as we drive forward on them.
Ms. Clarke. Very well. Much continued success to you.
Mr. Redl. Thank you, ma'am.
Ms. Clarke. Thank you, and I yield back, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentlelady yields back.
Mr. Lance, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Lance. Thank you, Chairman.
I am pleased that we were able to include Mobile Now in the
FCC reauthorization we are considering on the floor later
today.
As we look to the next chapter in spectrum legislation, I
certainly believe that the bipartisan, bicameral AIRWAVES Act
that I recently introduced with Ranking Member Doyle is a
fitting candidate.
It has received wide support from both licensed and
unlicensed industries, public interest groups, and several
Commissioners at the FCC.
I know that, in the executive branch, you do not take
official positions on these pieces of legislation. But Mr.
Redl, what are your impressions of the bill, and do you think
that it's possible at the appropriate time that the
administration will be able to support it, at least in concept?
Mr. Redl. Well, Mr. Lance, thank you for giving me the
recognition, but I can't take a position on it. The
administration doesn't have a formal position on the bill. That
being said, I really applaud all the work that's being done in
Congress and the attention that's being paid to spectrum at
this point.
Spectrum has always been one of those topics that have been
incredibly important to our communications ecosystem and,
frankly, most Americans don't pay much attention to it because
it just works.
We are very happy to be working with your office and with
other offices on this committee to make sure that, as we go
forward, we are looking across the entire electromagnetic
spectrum at opportunities.
If you look just a few years ago, we weren't considering
looking at high-band spectrum. It was considered spectrum was
no good for these kinds of purposes. And yet, now here we are
on the cusp of 5G.
You have companies like Starry that are out there using
special temporary authority to provide fixed broadband over
those frequencies at gigabit speeds. It's really an exciting
time to be in spectrum policy, and we look forward to working
with you on your bill.
Mr. Lance. Thank you. I want to continue to work with you
on this issue, and I hope that we are able to bring this matter
to fruition.
I certainly applaud your action in identifying 100
megahertz of mid-band spectrum for potential commercial use in
the 3 gigahertz band.
As you are aware, AIRWAVES has provisions dealing with
related bands: the CBRS band and the C-band. At the same time,
the FCC is reviewing the CBRS rules and the FCC is considering
a notice of inquiry partly related to the C-band.
It is my understanding that these are all important bands
for 5G deployment. What are the opportunities in considering
these adjacent bands for commercial use, and what are some of
the challenges?
Mr. Redl. Well, I am really excited that Chairman Pai and
his colleagues at the FCC are considering looking at 3-7 to 4-2
of the C-band spectrum you've talked about.
Certainly, NTIA will be taking a look at what Federal
equities we have there and making sure that our Federal users
that have, you know, positions on that band will be heard at
the FCC. But it's a real opportunity for us because mid-band
spectrum is so good for both coverage and capacity.
And so the idea that we could make a broad swath of
spectrum contiguously available for our Nation's 5G needs is a
real opportunity to continue our global leadership on these
fronts.
The challenges are what they always are. These bands have
incumbent users, and the FCC has a tough challenge ahead of it
trying to find ways to balance the rights of those incumbent
users with the opportunities moving forward.
Mr. Lance. Thank you, and congratulations again to you and
your entire family, and we will continue to work with you as we
have in the past.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. I yield back the balance of my
time.
Mrs. Blackburn. The gentleman yields back.
Ms. Matsui, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Matsui. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman, and
welcome. It's good to see you back here in another role.
I also want to talk about the spectrum. As you know,
Representative Guthrie and I have been focused on initiatives
for Federal entities to share or relocate their spectrum-
dependent systems allowed for commercial use.
Increasing the probability of sharing or relocating Federal
spectrum is often a multiphase, multifaceted strategy, from
research and development to planning to accommodate sharing our
new spectrum assignments.
I commend your work with DOD at identifying 100 megahertz
of spectrum for potential repurposing for wireless. Do you have
any thoughts on what incentives might be most beneficial for
Federal entities, whether a uniform approach across all Federal
entities is possible?
Mr. Redl. Well, thank you, Ms. Matsui.
Thank you for the commendation on the work. I would be
remiss if I didn't note that getting to yes on that 100
megahertz required the hard work of a ton of folks across the
Federal agencies.
And that's what's interesting about doing Federal spectrum
work, is that it is rare that there is a band where we don't
have multiple uses across multiple geographies and multiple
places within the time domain.
And so every band is a unique challenge. To that end,
providing incentives is not a one-size-fits-all approach. So,
to the extent that Congress can continue to provide us with
tools to address each one of these users individually and
address their concerns with making sure their systems are not
impacted by any potential move, we would welcome that
conversation.
Ms. Matsui. OK. So there is not one approach at all, so
there might be targeted solutions over every individual agency?
Mr. Redl. Yes.
Ms. Matsui. OK. Great.
Making more spectrum available for commercial use and new
technologies will be critical to ensuring we remain the global
leader in 5G deployment.
As you work to identify new bands that support new-
generation broadband networks, it is also important that we
consider opportunities to use commercial bands more
efficiently.
I am mindful of the ongoing work towards technical
solutions to terrestrial services in the L-band. What are your
thoughts on how we could push forward on spectrum proceedings
such as the L-band that protects incumbents from interference
and accommodate new spectrum use cases?
Mr. Redl. So that's at the heart of what we do, and the L-
band, perhaps the most well-known example of trying to do L-
band sharing is trying to find ways for the proposal before the
FCC for Ligado to use spectrum without adversely impacting the
global positioning system.
NTIA spends a lot of time working across the Federal
agencies to try to find ways to get to yes. But getting to yes
is going to mean finding ways to protect GPS without having to
make drastic changes.
We are waist deep in that, to put it bluntly, and we are
going to continue driving forward on it. We think there is a
lot of work that's been done to figure out the technical
characteristics, and there is a lot of work yet to be done to
get everybody at the table to yes. But it's something that we
are committed to.
Ms. Matsui. OK. Thank you.
I applaud the FAA's interagency Spectrum Efficient National
Surveillance Radar, better known as SENSR, feasibility study.
The research and development for this initiative provided under
the Spectrum Pipeline Act is focused on consolidating existing
surveillance radar used to track aircraft and weather.
As you know, this initiative would make a minimum of 30
megahertz of spectrum in the 1300 to 1350 megahertz band
available. How could we be helpful in evaluating possible
solutions that will make the spectrum available?
Mr. Redl. Well, we are currently in the process of going
through that. We are acutely aware of the deadlines in the
Spectrum Pipeline Act and are working actively across the
Federal Government on the SENSR system to try and find ways to
get to yes.
What can Congress do? Continue to support us in this work.
You know, we have a lot of work to do. Those are systems that
are critically important to national security. And so your
continued support in trying to help keep everybody at the table
and driving towards consensus is much appreciated.
Ms. Matsui. So it's continued effort, particularly
encouraging other Federal entities to look at their spectrum
systems to evaluate where they could be consolidated,
modernized, or otherwise allowed for sharing.
So it's just continued work to try to find that special
little nugget that will move us forward, then?
Mr. Redl. Yes. Figuring out the puzzle pieces of making
spectrum work is what, you know, like I said, a good half of
NTIA's employees do every day, working to figure out how to
make all those authorizations work collectively together in a
way that gets our national mission done but also makes spectrum
available for commercial services.
We appreciate the support. We appreciate the ongoing
dialogue with this committee that has been so engaged on
spectrum. So thank you so much.
Ms. Matsui. Well, thank you very much for your dialogue,
and I do appreciate working with you. Thank you.
I yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentlelady yields back.
Mr. Latta, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Latta. Thank you, Madam Chair, and Mr. Assistant
Secretary--David--welcome back. Good to see you.
In my role as the chair of the Digital Commerce and
Consumer Protection Subcommittee, we have done great work on
clearing the regulatory path to self-driving vehicles.
We also made a clearer path for increased access to
spectrum. It's going to be the new wireless 5G tech networks
that drives some technology solutions supporting self-driving
cars.
Would you tell me how much more spectrum 5G networks we
will need, and do you have any time frame within which we need
to make available a certain amount of spectrum to ensure the
advancement of self-driving cars becomes a reality?
Mr. Redl. Mr. Latta, I wish it was a question that lent
itself to a simple answer, but it doesn't. We are constantly
reevaluating how much spectrum is needed both for Government
operations and for commercial operations, and that's the heart
of our spectrum mandate.
Self-driving cars are a unique mission, but they are
another mission, and so as we look at all the things that we
are asked to accommodate, we are working across the Federal
Government with our colleagues at the Department of
Transportation and certainly with our FCC colleagues to try and
figure out ways to make this a reality.
Most of the self-driving car systems that have been
considered to date are a hodgepodge of different systems. We
don't anticipate that changing.
The spectrum at 5.9 that has been allocated to the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration is part of that puzzle,
and we certainly look forward to continuing to engage with them
to try and help self-driving cars become a reality.
Mr. Latta. OK. Well, thank you.
Also, with tax season upon us and fraudulent filings on the
rise, I've been concerned with an issue faced by a lot of the
certified public accountants out there in how the Internet
Committee for Assigned Names and Numbers manages the award of
generic top-level domains.
I've highlighted one particular example that is one of my
concerns, which involves how CPA organizations were not awarded
the dot CPA domain.
Would you share any thoughts or insights about how ICANN
manages the domain name process, and if you are able to rise
your general or specific concerns or observations with them
directly?
Mr. Redl. Sure, and thank you, Mr. Latta. I am very
familiar with the dot CPA issue, both from my time here and now
my time at NTIA.
Certified public accountants had applied through ICANN's
process for the generic top-level domain dot CPA, and that has
been an ongoing process for quite some time.
My staff is engaging actively with the CPAs to try and find
a resolution. In our role on the ICANN Governmental Advisory
Committee, we will stand up for U.S. interests, and, in this
case, this is one of those interests.
ICANN is holding one of its meetings next week in Puerto
Rico. I plan to be in attendance, and I have a scheduled
meeting with the CPAs to try to see if we can figure out a way
to get this resolved through the ICANN process as expeditiously
as possible.
Mr. Latta. That would be great. Thank you.
In terms of the next steps in broadband mapping, what do
you propose can be done about identifying locations unserved by
broadband service?
You know there has been a lot of work done by this
subcommittee and also with the working group concerned about
broadband out there, especially in our rural areas.
Have you identified other Government agencies' processes or
public utilities that can help you geolocate in those target-
specific unserved addresses or locations to better understand
the demand in those more remote parts of our country?
Mr. Redl. Sure. So the President's request for additional
funding for NTIA for mapping is not just to produce a map but
also to produce an assessment of broadband capabilities and
provide a tool for policymakers both here on the Hill and
across the executive branch to better target the funds that are
allocated to broadband.
Our approach, should we have the additional funding, would
be to not only look at the existing data sets but go to try and
find additional data sets. By overlaying that data across
different commercial products, you're able to take a look and
see where there are discrepancies, and typically that is the
way you figure out where you need to do validation.
We have had a lot of experience doing validation of data
and we have an extensive set of relationships through our State
Broadband Leaders Network with folks at the State and local
level who have continued the mapping work at the State level
throughout the last couple of years.
Minnesota is a great example of that. They've continued
doing this mapping work, and incorporating that data--that
boots-on-the-ground validated data--would be part of what we
would like to do if we are, again, put into the job of doing
mapping.
Mr. Latta. Well, thank you. And, again, it's really
important as you go forward to always remember that, looking at
the unserved versus the underserved, because there is a lot of
our areas in our districts that are totally unserved right now.
So I appreciate that.
Madam Chair, my time has expired and I yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
Ms. Eshoo, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Eshoo. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
Welcome, Mr. Administrator. It was David. Now it's Mr.
Administrator.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Eshoo. It's great to see you here. Congratulations to
you, and it's wonderful that your wife is here as well. I can
see the pride in her smile.
You know that the years that you've been with us on the
committee that I have pressed and pressed and pressed on
unlicensed spectrum because that really is the platform for
innovation.
So, in my view, it's important to have unlicensed spectrum
in low, mid, and high bands the same way we do for licensed in
low, mid, and high bands because they have different use cases,
and this is the case with Wi-Fi operations.
Is NTIA studying any bands below 6 gigahertz that are
promising for unlicensed, giving more valuable bands below 6
gigahertz away for commercial use?
I mean, I think that we need to know what your thinking is
on that. And are you willing to commit to that some of this
sub-6 gigahertz bands will be designated for unlicensed?
Mr. Redl. So, I mean, I'd love to be able to make that
assurance, but NTIA doesn't make those calls. So I think it's
important to note that----
Ms. Eshoo. Who does? Who does?
Mr. Redl [continuing]. That the decision of whether
licensed or unlicensed allocations are made is an FCC
determination. What we are doing at NTIA is looking at all of
the Federal frequencies and trying to find ones for which we
can make commercial use available and to non-Federal use
available. We are agnostic about this.
Ms. Eshoo. Is there any consultative role that you play
with the FCC on this?
Mr. Redl. Of course, and as the----
Ms. Eshoo. And so what would your conversation sound like?
Mr. Redl. So we haven't taken a firm position. But I think
you know personally that I have said before that we believe in
a balance of license and unlicensed, and that's the way that
NTIA has looked at things in the past.
Going forward, the upside to the fact that we are now
looking at a broader swath of spectrum than we were in the past
is that one of the biggest challenges we had--do we make it
licensed, or do we make it unlicensed?--was scarcity.
As we look at high-band spectrum, we have so much more
available that it becomes easier to find ways to make some
available for both uses, and I certainly think there is a role
for both as we go forward, and we will continue to consult with
the FCC and make sure that we are pushing that forward.
Ms. Eshoo. Well, it sounds somewhat promising. Somewhat.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Eshoo. I have made it a point in my district to meet
with the PSAPs throughout, you know, each community, and I did
that I think a week or 10 days ago in a smaller community in my
congressional district, but nonetheless the importance of
that--of that center, it was very interesting to me when I
asked them if they have had any communication from the Federal
Government on anything. And you know what? They haven't. They
simply--they said there isn't any outreach. There isn't
anything.
And I think that we need to be in communication with them.
I know it's been 6 years since the Middle Class Tax Relief Job
Creation Act was signed into law. There hasn't been a single
grant that has been put out there.
But they need these resources. They need these resources.
They need a partner. They need a Federal partner.
Now, I know that someone else asked about it, and that you
went through when you anticipate the grants being granted?
Mr. Redl. Yes, ma'am. So I've been on this job for a
little over three months and I know how much work you
personally put into those provisions in the Middle Class Tax
Relief and Job Creation Act, and we have made it a priority to
get that moving.
Ms. Eshoo. Now, OMB has to--it's over at OMB now?
Mr. Redl. So, yes, it is in the clearance process. So it's
not exclusively within our purview, as you know. It's a shared
responsibility between the Department of Commerce and the
Department of Transportation.
So Commerce and Transportation have been working to clear
both of their respective processes, and then the document has
to be cleared by OMB.
We are in the process of making that happen, and we are
hopeful we will get it out the door very soon.
Ms. Eshoo. So what's the next step after very soon?
Mr. Redl. The next step after that is that will establish
rules for a grant program, and we will be then taking
applications for grants from interested parties to improve Next
Generation 9-1-1 services.
Ms. Eshoo. Are you going to go out there and kind of wave
the flag and say, ``We have $115 million''--which is not a lot
of money when you divide it by 50 States and all the PSAPs. We
have, what, 6,000, approximately, PSAPs----
Mr. Redl. Yes.
Ms. Eshoo [continuing]. In the country? I think we need to
really be aggressive about this. But you know what? If they
don't hear from us, they need to be prepared to put in for
whatever they are thinking they need to put in for, and I think
that you need to take a lead on that.
I didn't--I left this PSAP encouraged because of all the
things that they are doing. They are working so hard and
working very smart. But that they don't know that anything
exists 3,000 miles away is not very good.
So I think that you have--there is some work to be done on
that. And I think that today--if I might say this--that this
afternoon we are going to be taking up the RAY BAUM'S Act--you
know, how life goes on. He's passed on. He would be very proud
that you're here today in your new role, and I'll just end on
that note.
Thank you.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentlelady yields back.
Mr. Guthrie, you're recognized.
Mr. Guthrie. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and that is a
great tribute to Ray in the RAY BAUM'S Act, and then an acronym
to come up with the RAY BAUM'S Act that is just--it's
important, and I know he would be so proud, as just to finish
what my friend from California was saying.
Speaking of another friend from California, Ms. Matsui, so
Doris and I--Ms. Matsui and I have worked on the Federal
Spectrum Incentives Act to provide financial incentive to
Government agencies to relocate or share their spectrum
licenses, which you're very familiar with, and given that one
of the incentives included in the bill which would allow
agencies to use funds to offset sequestration, and now that we
have a 2-year budget agreement, are there ways to consider
updating the bill and whether in terms of how auctions proceeds
could be used or otherwise--for proceeds to be used.
And what about allowing agencies to use funds to purchase
equipment or other things? How would you just touch on updating
that act?
Mr. Redl. Mr. Guthrie, you know, I think--as I said
earlier, having as many tools as possible and reducing the
friction as much as possible for Federal agencies that are
being asked to relocate their systems while maintaining their
existing mission profile is something that we should always be
considering.
The challenge with relocating these systems is, it's not
like you can simply shut them off and stop doing the job. These
agencies have to maintain mission readiness throughout the
entire process. It's a long process, and it's a long and costly
process.
So anything we can do to make sure that we are not
burdening our agencies unduly is welcomed.
Mr. Guthrie. All right. Thank you.
And one other issue that we have discussed today is the
National Broadband Map. I know you talked some of that with Mr.
Latta.
First, I am glad to see a budget request that includes
mapping, as I believe NTIA is the best place to house it. In my
district, census blocks are too big to perform 477 data to be
useful because in the rural areas, even a few miles of my city
of Bowling Green, which is the home of Connected Nation, who's
represented here as well, which is a growing southern--like one
of the new South growth cities--but if you could just--fastest
growing city in the State--if you just get right outside of our
city limits, there is access to broadband.
Some development and being able to move forward is kind of
limited to broadband. That's a big county issue with our County
Fiscal Quarter Counting Commission, as most people call it. And
so it's a big concern not just in rural rural Kentucky but just
outside of growth Kentucky.
So there is a lot of information we need. Census maps--
census tracks just aren't enough. I know you talked with Mr.
Latta, but have you talked about getting granular service
availability data from providers?
Mr. Redl. So, in addition to what we would like to do if
we were given the new appropriation with additional data sets,
NTIA recently filed comments at the FCC expressing the
administration's position on how to improve the FCC's 477 data,
and these are the issues we looked at.
And, essentially, our comments broke down to say there are
two things you need to improve. You need to improve accuracy
and you need to improve granularity. But also, we need to
balance the need for increased accuracy and granularity with
the burden that we are placing on filers. And I don't envy the
FCC in striking that balance, but we need more accurate and
more granular data.
Mr. Guthrie. All right. Thank you.
And finally, regarding high-band spectrum, are NTIA and the
administration generally on board with Chairman Pai's recent
announcement that the commission will move forward with
auctions in the 24 to 28 gigahertz bands?
Mr. Redl. We are excited about more spectrum being made
available to bring to bear on our broadband challenges. I mean,
the President has made it very clear that getting broadband out
to rural America is a priority, and we think that the high-band
spectrum is one way for us to do that. The potential for fixed
wireless in those bands could be a real game changer in rural
America.
Mr. Guthrie. All right. Thank you, and I'll yield back my
time.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
Mr. Kinzinger, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Kinzinger. Well, thank you, Madam Chair, for yielding.
I want to congratulate you on your job. It's great. It's
good to have you here. I enjoyed meeting with you in your new
capacity back in February, and I appreciate that you've been
making the rounds with members of this committee to discuss
priorities.
I am also going to try to get through a number of questions
with my time. So if you can keep your answers as brief as
possible, that would be great.
I'd like to discuss the February 26th announcement that
NTIA and the Pentagon have identified a 100 megahertz band of
spectrum. It's a 3450 to 3550 band that could be potentially
repurposed to spur commercial wireless innovation, including
advanced wireless services.
I am all for opening up spectrum for commercial use. But as
a military guy myself, I tend to look at things through a
national security lens. So I would want assurances from the
Pentagon that introducing commercial operations to this band of
spectrum would have no negative effects on defense.
First, will you reaffirm your commitment to ensure that the
military communications operating in this band must be a
priority?
Mr. Redl. Absolutely.
Mr. Kinzinger. And now, in the event that the engineering
study shows that this is feasible and there will be no
degradation of military operations, I'd like you to briefly
describe what sorts of commercial ventures we might see in this
band.
You know, might we, for instance, see spectrum-sharing
technologies that essentially allow for dual use while
prioritizing Government ops?
Mr. Redl. So that's the phase we are in now: figuring out
what the options will be once we figure out through the
engineering studies what the profile of existing DOD systems
will look like in a post-transition.
We would be working with the FCC to figure out how this
fits into the larger spectrum picture. You know, this spectrum
is immediately adjacent to the 3.5 gigahertz band, which we are
in the process at NTIA of certifying the systems to make the
sharing in that band possible.
We will work with the FCC going forward to figure out what
the right play is to make that available in the best way
possible.
Mr. Kinzinger. The extensive Federal and non-Federal use
of this band makes it an ideal candidate for spectrum sharing.
Will NTIA and the DOD focus on dynamic spectrum sharing as a
way to maximize its use? You basically kind of answered that.
As you know, this 100 megahertz band is immediately
adjacent to the Citizens Broadband Radio Service, and the FCC's
rules for CBRS are almost finalized now.
If the NTIA and DOD move forward to open this band, it
would save time and money to simply extend the CBRS rules to
the adjacent band rather than go through a potentially long
rulemaking process.
In order to accelerate its commercial use, will NTIA and
DOD consider applying the same rules under the FCC's Part 96 of
the CBRS to this 100 megahertz band?
Mr. Redl. So, ultimately, the decision of how the non-
Federal use would be done will be done through notice and
comment at the FCC. But we will participate in that process.
Mr. Kinzinger. I know at least one company that's worked
closely with the DOD on this band tier structure, and I think
it's safe to say that, with the industry assistance, this
process can be much less painful.
Do you agree that industry can help accelerate and ease the
transition process for NTIA and the DOD to enable shared use of
this band?
Mr. Redl. Absolutely. We have got two advisory committees
at NTIA that are on both sides of this equation to help us
out--the Commercial Spectrum Management Advisory Committee for
looking at the commercial side of the equation, the
Interdepartmental Radio Advisory Committee on the Government
side--and those two advisory committees give us at NTIA a more
complete picture of both what the Government users need and
what spectrum users on the commercial side are looking for.
Mr. Kinzinger. OK. And I'd like to briefly discuss the
future of spectrum both in terms of what we can do with the
spectrum that's currently being utilized as well as ultra-high
and super-high frequencies that are not yet widely utilized in
commercial ventures.
In your opinion, what's the most efficient way to deploy
the spectrum that's already more accessible today? Would it be
sharing, clearing, or some other means?
Mr. Redl. So, when it comes to reallocating Federal assets
to non-Federal, Congress has been very clear that we need to
prioritize clearing over sharing.
But that doesn't mean that we don't look at all potential
tools that we have in our toolkit, and sharing and the request
we made for leasing authority are part of those potential tools
that we could bring to bear.
Mr. Kinzinger. And how can we make the progress gap in
developing and deploying 5G?
Mr. Redl. Yes. I think the work that Congress is doing to
continue to press the issue and make more spectrum available is
particularly helpful. But I think what we are really going to
have to do as a country to see this move forward is continue
pressing the private sector on standards.
Standards, at the end of the day, are where these fights
are won and lost and we, as a country, have been a leader in 4G
standards. We need to continue pressing forward to be a leader
in 5G standards.
Mr. Kinzinger. And do you believe that we will still be
fighting over the same spectrum bands in 20 years, or do you
think the technology will allow us to either share better or
unlock higher and lower frequencies to spread things around?
Mr. Redl. I think it's yes to both. I think we will still
be fighting over these spectrum bands in 20 years, but I think
we will also have new technologies to bring to bear.
I mean, just in the last couple of years we have moved up
into the spectrum frontiers in Horizon's portion of the FCC's
work, and, you know, five or 10 years ago that was unthinkable.
So at NTIA we continue to constantly reevaluate and figure
out what technology has done to change our underlying
assumptions.
Mr. Kinzinger. And very last question: Does the NTIA have
the authorities necessary to operate in the current environment
or in these future scenarios so that it can quickly deploy the
use of spectrum?
Mr. Redl. The only thing is the request that we made in
the President's fiscal 2019 budget with respect to leasing
authority.
Mr. Kinzinger. All right. You did a great job. Thank you
for getting through so many questions. I yield back.
[Laughter.]
Mrs. Blackburn. Mr. McNerney, you're recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. McNerney. Well, I thank the Chair, and I thank the
witness. I am sorry I missed some of your testimony. I had to
step out.
But I am concerned about the FCC's reluctance to embrace
cybersecurity as an issue. I think we have serious problems
with cybersecurity, and then, when a significant portion of
Government experts are told to stand down, I think we are
asking for trouble.
Can you commit that, in your role as head of NTIA, you will
help protect our Nation's networks?
Mr. Redl. Absolutely, and we are continuing to do that
now. The President, as you know, last year issued an executive
order asking Commerce and Homeland Security to look at
distributed threats like botnets, and we are actively working
with our sister agency NIST and with Homeland to put together a
report to the President on that issue.
Mr. McNerney. You have the resources that you need?
Mr. Redl. I mean, everyone always would like more
resources. But yes, we are doing very well with the resources
we have, and certainly we are looking forward and hope that the
President's fiscal '19 budget will give us the money that we
need.
Mr. McNerney. OK. Well, following the rise in the
disruptive IoT cybersecurity attacks, I introduced the Securing
IoT Act.
NTIA has been active on this issue, and I understand that
in recent meetings of NTIA's multistakeholders working group on
IoT security upgradeability and patching that was held back in
November. Can you update us on the progress of this
multistakeholder working group?
Mr. Redl. Sure. That working group produced documents that
were consensus documents from the stakeholders to address some
of the concerns related around patchability and conveying that
information to consumers.
We are really proud of that work. We think it's a real good
start in terms of bringing security to bear on IoT, and I know
that IoT security is a priority for Secretary Ross across the
entire Department.
Mr. McNerney. Well, what meaningful advances in IoT
security can we expect?
Mr. Redl. Stay tuned. We are in the process of working
that out. You know, part of the interesting aspect of the
multistakeholder process is you don't always know what will
come next. The stakeholders have a way of asserting themselves.
Mr. McNerney. Well, I know that NTIA has also published a
draft report on how to protect against botnets. You mentioned
that a little earlier. How do you expect that the findings and
recommendations from this report will be used in practice by
Government and industry?
Mr. Redl. We will have to see. We are in the process now
of incorporating comments to the draft report. Our draft report
was put out in January, and both NTIA and NIST have been
seeking comment from stakeholders to improve the draft in
anticipation of deliver to the President in May.
What happens to the document and the recommendations
therein will be up to the President, and we are hoping to
continue working on it.
Mr. McNerney. It would be nice to have some mechanism to
ensure that Federal agencies and Government contractors follow
these recommendations.
Mr. Redl. Sure would.
Mr. McNerney. I want to change direction a little bit. I
want to make sure that my constituents have access to broadband
and that that access is affordable. How can NTIA's BroadbandUSA
program help?
Mr. Redl. So BroadbandUSA has been continuing to do
outreach and maintain relationships with the States and with
local governments through the State Broadband Leaders Network,
and we have been trying to help produce best practices for
communities to get investment from private-sector entities
because the economics of broadband are typically the biggest
challenge to deployment.
We continue to maintain that capability and work with our
State colleagues, and the President's request for an additional
$50 million to provide an assessment and map of broadband
availability I think would certainly aid policy makers both
within the executive branch and certainly up here on Capitol
Hill in trying to define what the unserved parts of our country
really look like.
Mr. McNerney. I am going to change directions again. Does
the NTIA have jurisdiction over drones?
Mr. Redl. So NTIA has jurisdiction over some of the issues
related to Federal counter UAS activities, and that has played
out certainly on Capitol Hill over the last couple of years.
But, with respect to drones, I think the majority of that work
is done interagency with our colleagues at the FAA.
Mr. McNerney. OK. Is there a broad outline of drone
regulations at NTIA? Is there some sort of regulatory structure
that can help guide where we are going to be going with this
technology?
Mr. Redl. I don't have one prepared for you today, but I'd
certainly be happy to work with your office going forward to
figure out what the right steps are going forward for us on
drone security.
Mr. McNerney. I mean, you can see drone security is a huge
potential issue for us. I mean, they could fly a drone over the
Capitol and blow us up any time they want. So we need to move
forward aggressively on that, in my opinion.
Mr. Redl. Yes, sir.
Mr. McNerney. Thank you. I yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
Mr. Johnson, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Johnson. Thank you, Madam Chair, and welcome, Mr.
Assistant Secretary. That has a nice ring to it. Just kind of
rolls off of there. So welcome.
Last week, the FCC released a map showing areas across the
country eligible to receive support for 4G LTE service over the
next 10 years as part of phase 2 of the Mobility Fund.
The map almost immediately came under attack for
inaccurately portraying areas as covered, including parts of my
district, that were not. This continues to raise questions as
to whether the FCC should be in charge of broadband mapping,
wireless or otherwise.
My bill, the MAPPING NOW Act, would move Federal broadband
mapping away from the FCC back to NTIA. So, Mr. Assistant
Secretary, what will the NTIA do to ensure broadband maps are
accurate?
Mr. Redl. Mr. Johnson, as a threshold matter, I want to
applaud the FCC for what it's been doing on mapping. Certainly,
any effort to bring more accurate data to the way we deploy our
resources as a Federal Government should be welcomed, and I
also thank you for your leadership in making mapping a priority
for discussion here in Congress.
At NTIA, we spent a lot of time working on ways to define
the need for broadband, where those problem areas are, and we
are happy that the President had asked for an additional $50
million for us to move forward with that.
That $50 million, if it is brought to bear on our mapping
challenges, will be used not only to produce a map but to do an
assessment of the data in that map. And bringing together
multiple data sets and figuring out why they don't 100 percent
line up should give us a better idea of the real need we have
in rural America. Anyone who's spent any time in rural America
knows we have a real need for broadband infrastructure in rural
America.
Mr. Johnson. Sure, and I want to echo what you said. I
certainly applaud the work that's been done up until this
point, but we got to take it to a new level. I mean, we have
got--the urban/rural divide is a very real phenomenon. We have
got lots of intellectual capital that is not being recognized
because young people can't get access to the internet for their
school work, businesses can't come in to rural areas because
they can't set up operations because they can't communicate
with their customers, their suppliers, et cetera, so I applaud
that work as well, and I agree with you. But it's time to take
this to the next level
So you had talked about some of the things you would do,
but what strengths does NTIA bring to the mapping efforts over
what's currently being done at the FCC?
Mr. Redl. I think a real strength we bring to the table is
our existing relationships with the State and local
governments.
The BroadbandUSA group at NTIA has spent the last few years
continuing to cultivate our State Broadband Leaders Network,
and these are officials within State and local and county
governments who spend their time thinking about how to improve
the broadband situation, and it's yielded real results for us
in terms of States that have been willing to take on the
difficult challenge of maintaining these maps and getting good
data.
As I mentioned earlier, Minnesota is a great example of a
State that has continued to push forward and use State
resources to produce good, actionable data. I think it's those
relationships and our ongoing work with them--we had our State
broadband leaders here in town just a few weeks ago to explore
ways to continue working together between the different State
and Federal entities that are engaged here. It's a real asset
for us.
Mr. Johnson. Great. Great.
Shifting gears just a little bit, a lot of discussion has
focused on high-band spectrum and how NTIA can help accelerate
the U.S. in deploying 5G. But my constituents are still
struggling to get 4G, or even to sustain a phone call driving
down the highway. So, Mr. Assistant Secretary, is NTIA is
looking at lower bands that could be freed up for commercial
use?
Mr. Redl. So the announcement of 3450 to 3550 I think is a
primate candidate for the kind of thing you're talking about.
It's mid-band spectrum that provides a good mix of coverage
versus capacity availability, and hopefully we will be able to
drive forward and get those studies completed so that we can
bring that to market as soon as possible.
But that's the kind of work we are doing to bring spectrum
to market to meet actual, real-world demands.
Mr. Johnson. OK. And one final questions in the last 30
seconds. A multiagency group that includes NTIA is exploring
the possibility of making changes to the FAA's long-range
radars operating in that band and relocating them to another
band. What's the status of that effort to free up the 1300 to
1350 megahertz band? Is that process moving in a reasonable
time frame?
Mr. Redl. The process is moving in a reasonable time
frame. Our Interdepartmental Radio Advisory Committee, which is
the group that works across the U.S. Government to make sure
that Federal equities are respected and that our missions are
maintained, are spending a lot of time trying to figure out how
to make that system work in a smaller footprint or in a
different band.
I am pleased with the progress. We are going to continue to
push forward. It's a real priority for us.
Mr. Johnson. Great.
Madam Chairman, I yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. Yields back.
Mr. Long, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Long. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Last week, the FCC announced that it plans to vote on an
item streamlining the process of small cell deployment at its
March meeting.
Is the administration supportive of this effort, and what
is NTIA doing to work with Federal agencies to streamline the
process for facilities, deployment on buildings, and land
administered by and managed by the Federal Government?
Mr. Redl. Mr. Long, I appreciate your asking. It's an area
we have started working really hard on in the last couple of
weeks.
The President has tasked the broadband interagency working
group, which NTIA co-chairs with our colleagues at the Rural
Utility Service, with looking at three specific work streams
that could bring Federal assets to bear on the challenge, that
could streamline permitting for broadband projects, and ways to
look across the entire Federal Government at different funding
programs and ensure that they are working together and
complementing each other as we try to bring broadband to every
corner of the country.
Mr. Long. What are some of the lessons learned from
previous efforts to clear Federal users from the spectrum band?
Mr. Redl. So the interesting thing is that this is an area
that I think is a great case study in how we have taken lessons
learned and Congress had incorporated them into legislation.
The information we learned in AWS-1 in 2007 was then
incorporated into changes to the Spectrum Relocation Fund in
2012. After 2012, we learned that there were some challenges
with making funding available to agencies, and Congress made
another change in 2015 to make that funding available in a more
streamlined process.
It's an iterative process, and it gets better every time.
So we thank you for all of the support in trying to make this
as easy as possible.
Mr. Long. Well, you're talking about Congress making
changes. What should we, this committee--as a committee, what
should we be doing to assist in this effort?
Mr. Redl. I mean, I think you're doing it, which is
raising the profile of the issue and----
Mr. Long. Could you repeat that?
Mr. Redl. Yes.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Redl. And continue to engage with us in ways that make
sure that we can meet the dual mandate. That's our daily
challenge, is we know that Congress wants us to make more
spectrum available for commercial users. But we also know,
because we spend so much time with our Federal Government
users, that we have to protect the critical mission that they
are doing as well.
So anything that Congress does to support us in making sure
our Federal users have what they need, whether it be what they
have now or what they will have tomorrow, while also supporting
us and making sure we have the resources to bring commercial
spectrum to market is always helpful.
Mr. Long. OK.
As you're aware, many on this committee have consistently
supported commonsense policy of auctioning 1675, 1680 megahertz
for shared Government-commercial use for the past several
years, and we are very pleased that the administration-proposed
budgets for both of them reflect a priority in seeing this
policy through.
Does the FCC have everything it needs from your team at
NTIA to move this policy forward with a notice of proposed
rulemaking and, if so, do you support the FCC's issuing notice
of proposed rulemaking in the coming weeks to keep the process
moving forward?
Mr. Redl. It will surprise you not at all, sir, that we
spend a lot of time working with the FCC on every spectrum band
that could be reallocated from Federal use. And so it's an
ongoing process, and we continue to make sure that, whatever
the FCC needs, that we can provide.
Mr. Long. OK. So you do keep the process moving forward?
Mr. Redl. Yes. I mean, I think the question of whether or
not the FCC has what it needs is probably a question for the
FCC, but we stand ready to provide them with whatever they
need.
Mr. Long. OK. Thank you. And I think this is a world
record, but I yield back a minute 30.
Mrs. Blackburn. I cannot believe Billy Long is giving back
time. That is a first.
Mr. Costello, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Costello. Thank you very much. I also want to thank--
congratulate Mr. Redl, but also thank him for the time that he
spent with me in my office just yesterday.
I wanted to focus on FirstNet. As you're beginning your
buildout, what are you doing to make sure that we get the
National Public Safety Broadband Network up and running as
quickly as possible? And the other piece of this, just in terms
of getting it up and running, is do you foresee any roadblocks,
particularly regarding interoperability?
Mr. Redl. So, in terms of getting things rolling, I know
that FirstNet is currently working hard to get Task Order 4 out
to AT&T, and Task Order 4 is what will start the process
whereby AT&T begins to build out the State plans that were
provided to each Governor as part of the opt-in and opt-out
process.
We were pleased to see that AT&T, as part of this,
immediately made their network available to public safety users
on a priority and preemptive basis, and as we get forward with
buildout we are going to continue pushing them to make sure
they meet the milestones in the contract and that they are
building out in a way that comports with all the State plans
they handed out.
Mr. Costello. The State and Local Implementation Grant
Program 2.0, which allocates, I think, a little under $44
million to help FirstNet buildout--in Pennsylvania, the State
police have a $425,000 grant--and I want to ask you how NTIA is
working with State and local officials on the grant program and
how your efforts might differ State to State depending on
relative risk to different types of disasters or public safety
threats.
Mr. Redl. Sure. You know, SLIGP, as it is lovingly known--
SLIGP 2.0 grants are in process now and all of the States have
reached out to try to find ways to use that funding to further
integration of State assets into FirstNet, since all 56 States
and territories have opted into FirstNet's RAN build.
We are working with our colleagues at FirstNet to make sure
that we engage with the States on a day-to-day basis. You know,
FirstNet spent a lot of time throughout this process doing
outreach to State points of contact on these issues and
engaging with the public safety community, and we are lucky
that both NTIA and FirstNet have a great relationship with
State governments and with public safety users.
So we are going to continue working collectively to make
sure that those folks in each State who know the needs of their
communities are heard.
Mr. Costello. I appreciate your testimony and your answers
to my questions.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
Mr. Shimkus, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Shimkus. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
How do we pronounce your name? Is it Reedle? Ridell?
[Laughter.]
Mr. Shimkus. It's great to have you here. Thank you for
being here.
As you know, I am the founder, the co-chair of the Next
Generation 9-1-1 Caucus. In this role, I've seen firsthand how
outdated many of our 9-1-1 centers are, and how Next Generation
9-1-1--where it's deployed has been a force multiplier for
public safety.
It is more reliable and resilient and faster than legacy
systems and improves emergency responses and protection of the
public and first responders.
As 9-1-1 enters its 50th year--and I haven't been here for
all those years--the urgency of the deployment of next
generation is greater than ever.
I know that--and you know--in 2012 Congressman Eshoo and I,
along with your help, introduced Next Generation 9-1-1
Advancement Act, enacted as part of the Middle Class Tax
Relief--you mentioned that in your opening statement--and Job
Creation Act of 2012. It provides for a $115 million match
grant program to fund some of the implementation of Next
Generation 9-1-1 services. And I know the chairwoman mentioned
that about updating in her question.
What I wanted to follow up on was additionally effective
development of critical 9-1-1 infrastructure dictates that
scarce funding resources must be dedicated to their stated
purpose of enhancing first responder capabilities.
However, despite States--and this is where we have the
challenges--quote, unquote, ``self-identifying'' as
nondiverters, the FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security
Bureau continues to identify State funds collected for 9-1-1
being diverted for non-9-1-1-related purposes.
Given the new program, what steps is NTIA taking to combat
9-1-1 fund diversion, and what can we do to help?
Mr. Redl. Well, you know, I want to thank you and
Congresswoman Eshoo for your leadership on these issues.
You know, it's interesting to watch. We have consumers who
are dialing 9-1-1, have smartphones with advanced capability.
Now that FirstNet is being stood up and in addition the other
providers who are providing, first responders with capabilities
have advanced smartphone-style capabilities on their devices,
but the 9-1-1 call centers in the middle that are connecting
the two in their most dire times haven't been able to keep
pace.
And so looking at ways to bring that forward is something
that we are painfully aware of and are trying to get that grant
program out the door as quickly as possible to bear on the
problem.
As far as diverters go, I think you're aware the FCC
produces a report every year that looks at which States have
been diverting funds--I believe it was under the Net 9-1-1
Act--that will identify States that have been diverting funds
away from their 9-1-1 programs for other purposes.
This will help inform our grantmaking, as we go forward, as
is consistent with the law.
Mr. Shimkus. And you know the concern is that the States
could fully fund--they could put money in and then once the
time for reporting occurs, then they take the money back out,
and it's something we have argued about.
So in your process, as you're reviewing this, if there is a
better way for us to be more specific and, you know, you can
ask us to help refine this, because it's just--again, as I've
said, criminal neglect to charge someone for a purpose and then
not use that money for the purpose it was intended to go to.
Mr. Redl. If we find that there are States that are gaming
the system that aren't being identified because of foibles of
the law, we'd be happy to work with you to try and----
Mr. Shimkus. And if we can point some out to you, you
would be happy to receive that information?
Mr. Redl. Of course. Always.
Mr. Shimkus. Great. Thanks.
The next thing I want to briefly talk about is the 5G cell
siting, and, as you know, last week FCC announced that it plans
to vote on an item streamlining process for small cell
deployment at its March meeting. This approach is similar to
the bill I introduced called the SPEED Act, which reduces the
regulatory overhang for the siting of small cells. These
efforts are incredibly important in winning the international
race to 5G. Of course, you mentioned that also in your opening
statement.
Is the administration supportive of these efforts to
modernize the siting process for small cells, and what is NTIA
doing to work with Federal agencies to streamline the process
for facilities deployment on buildings and land administered
and managed by the Federal Government?
Mr. Redl. Mr. Shimkus, the President has made it clear
that getting broadband out to the parts of rural America that
don't have it now is a priority for this administration, and
certainly the work that we are doing in our Broadband Internet
Working Group will help to bear upon that.
The Broadband Internet Working Group has been established.
It's co-chaired by NTIA and the Rural Utility Service, and this
is one of the issues we are currently looking at.
How do we streamline Federal permitting processes in order
to make it easier to build out? How do we bring Federal assets
to bear on this challenge? How do we make sure that different
funding programs across the U.S. Government are coordinated in
a way that gets us the best outcome?
We are dedicated to this challenge, and we are really
excited about getting to yes on some of these issues.
Mr. Shimkus. Thank you very much.
Madam, my time has expired.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
Mr. Bilirakis, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Bilirakis. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Mr.
Secretary, for your testimony. I appreciate it so very much.
On the opening day of this subcommittee's infrastructure
push, I introduced House Resolution 687 to coordinate
regulations and permitting processes between the Federal,
State, and local governments.
We regularly acknowledged the need to remain a leader in
technology innovation. However, the unintended complexity of
our broadband infrastructure rules is causing us to fall behind
and lose investment. Our competitors, such as China, Japan, and
Europe, are already racing to deploy 5G for commercial use.
What can we do today to ensure that the U.S. stays in the
lead of this innovation and speed our new spectrum bands to
market as quickly as our competition?
Mr. Redl. Well, sir, at the Department of Commerce,
Secretary Ross has made it clear that 5G leadership should be a
priority, and we are driving full steam ahead to engage on
every front with Congress, across the administration, and,
perhaps most importantly, with our private-sector colleagues to
make sure that we are able to drive standards, that we are able
to make as much spectrum available as possible, and that we are
able to replicate in 5G the kind of success the United States
had in 4G.
Mr. Bilirakis. Very good.
Representing the great State of Florida--although I do have
Pittsburgh blood, by the way, you know that my dad's from
Pittsburgh and I root for the Pirates and the Steelers and the
Rays, of course, and the Bucs--but in any case, representing
the great State of Florida in the Tampa Bay area, Florida is a
payer State, as you know, into the Universal Service Fund.
There have long been questions about the accuracy of the
broadband data collection and the use of resources. While I
truly believe that everyone should have access to internet
services, I want to ensure that constituent money is going to
the locations that need it most, of course.
The FCC has made a number of data improvements in the last
year. The NTIA recently provided suggestions to the FCC on
updating its data collection practices, specifically regarding
the Form 477 data program, as you know.
Expanding on Mr. Guthrie's questioning, can you discuss the
importance of Form 477 to NTIA decisionmaking and how the
recommendations NTIA provided to the FCC will improve broadband
data accuracy to help payer States such as this great State of
Florida?
Mr. Redl. Sure, Mr. Bilirakis.
You know, the Form 477 data is a critical tool that we all
have as part of looking at where broadband is available.
The FCC has long maintained this data, and while, you know,
we can all quibble over whether it's accurate enough or
granular enough--and I think NTIA has been very clear we think
it needs to be more accurate and more granular--it still
represents a critical data set.
And as we look at what the President asks us to do if we
get the additional appropriations to do an assessment and a
map, 477 data would form the basis of one of those data sets.
Having as many data sets as possible and as many of them
validated as possible will lead us to the best possible
outcomes.
And, you know, I think we want to get good data in your
hands. We want to get good data in the rest of the executive
branch's hands. Doing so will require us to look not just at
Form 477 but at a lot more information than that.
Mr. Bilirakis. Very good. Thank you.
I yield back, Madam Chair. Appreciate it.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
Mrs. Brooks, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Brooks. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and
congratulations. It's good to have you here.
I have been focused for quite some time on FirstNet and
want to ask whether or not--how is FirstNet doing, in your
opinion, with respect to their commitment to specify the 15
percent geographic requirement to partner with rural telecoms?
How is that going?
Mr. Redl. So, Mrs. Brooks, we are at the threshold of
seeing FirstNet start to deploy its own network through AT&T.
As I mentioned earlier, FirstNet is working with AT&T now on
Task Order 4. Task Order 4 will be the order that has AT&T go
out and begin building the State-based plans for the Radio
Access Network.
We are aware that it is our job at NTIA and at FirstNet to
make sure that AT&T is living up to the terms of the contract
it signed with the U.S. Government. We are joined at the hip
for the next 25 years on making sure that AT&T lives up to that
contract and that public safety first responders get the tools
that Congress intended in the law. And so we are going to
continue pushing forward to make sure that's the case.
Mrs. Brooks. Thank you.
I am also curious, following on to Representative Shimkus'
question, about the diversion of fees, the 9-1-1 fees of
States.
How does your agency follow up when States have to certify
they've not diverted the 9-1-1 fees? What does certifying mean,
and what is your agency's role in ensuring that the States--
rather than us maybe providing you information we might hear
about, do you know what kind of mechanism is in place to ensure
that 9-1-1 fees aren't--when a State certifies they haven't
diverted fees?
Mr. Redl. So that report is produced and the methodology
behind it is done by the FCC. That would be a question for the
FCC, but I am certainly happy to follow up with them and with
your office if you would like.
Mrs. Brooks. OK. I think people are probably most
curious--the spectrum--in the last auction, the auctions have
produced significant revenue for the Federal Government, far
more than everyone expected and, of course, when it comes to
our Federal budgeting process, we need as much revenue as
possible.
Do you have any opinion as to which bands might raise the
most money for the Treasury as we continue to contemplate the
spectrum auctions?
Mr. Redl. So I think, you know, the traditional wisdom has
been that low-band spectrum would produce the best revenue
outcome.
But it's much more complicated than that when we are
looking at which bands are going to be the most lucrative.
There are a number of different factors that go into that.
Relative scarcity is one of them. International harmonization
is another. The availability of equipment in a timely manner is
one. How fast it can be brought to market and cleared of
incumbents is another.
So it's a complicated equation to figure out what those
revenues might look like, and it does seem to be evolving quite
rapidly. You know, high-band spectrum, as I mentioned earlier,
was not considered particularly valuable just a few years ago,
and yet now here we stand looking at high band as having the
potential to really drive 5G leadership.
So I don't envy those that have to do the estimates of what
spectrum will bring in in terms of revenue. But it is a moving
target on its best day.
Mrs. Brooks. Thank you.
And Congresswoman Debbie Dingell and I formed the 5G
Caucus, and in talking about that you mentioned--and I am
curious what your agency's role is--in response to
Representative Kinzinger's questions, you mentioned pressing
the private sector on standards. And talk to me about what your
role is, what's the timing, because I hear that quite a bit
from the private sector.
Talk to us a little bit more about that statement that you
made, and how do we accomplish that and what's your role in
accomplishing that?
Mr. Redl. Sure. So, you know, NTIA plays a role in its
engagement with the private sector as the President's principal
advisor on telecommunications, and certainly as the agency to
which the Secretary's communications and information functions
were delegated.
It would be worth noting that this is a shared obligation
when it comes to standards, as our colleagues at NIST are also
very engaged in working in these standards bodies. You know,
the scientists at NIST are fantastic, and we certainly work
hand in glove with our sister agency to make sure that we are
producing good outcomes for the United States.
For our part, we are going to continue pressing the
industry. Industry participation is the backbone of getting
private-sector-led standards adopted.
So, from our pulpit, we will continue to push them to make
sure that they are engaged at every phase.
Mrs. Brooks. Thank you.
I certainly believe, because I understand at the Mobile
World Congress recently 5G was all anybody talked about. So we
better get this right, and everybody better speed it up.
Thank you, and I yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentlelady yields back, and by unanimous
consent Mr. Tonko has joined us, and you are recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. Tonko. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Assistant Secretary Redl, welcome, and thank you for being
here today.
Broadband internet access is often the difference between
success and failure for many Americans, whether they are
students doing homework, job seekers training for a new career,
doctors reading a medical scan, or entrepreneurs starting a
small business.
To date, our Government has done a poor job, I believe, of
tracking broadband deployment, especially with public
investments that are made with too little accountability and
oversight on behalf of the taxpayer.
I hope this is an issue that we can address together. As
you know, I have been working with my colleague and friend,
Representative Lance, on a bill called Access Broadband that
would begin to address this issue. Our bill would establish a
coordinating office for Federal broadband resources at NTIA. It
would track Federal broadband dollars, streamline management of
Federal broadband resources across multiple agencies, and most
notably it would simplify the process for small business and
local economic developers to access them.
It would also help notify communities that these resources
exist to help them expand their own local broadband access. The
bill already has strong bipartisan support.
My thanks to the 10 members of this committee who have co-
sponsored it to date. I would ask everyone here to help us
advance this effort.
So, Secretary, to your knowledge, does NTIA or any Federal
agency currently track the construction and use of broadband
infrastructure resources across all Federal agencies that
provide broadband funding and support?
Mr. Redl. Well, Mr. Tonko, this is an issue that NTIA is
currently in the process of evaluating.
The President tasked the Broadband Interagency Working
Group, which NTIA co-chairs with the Rural Utility Service,
with looking at this issue, specifically how to look across all
the programs in the Federal Government that are providing
funding for broadband and make sure that they are coordinated
with each other and are complementary to each other.
Mr. Tonko. Does NTIA or any Federal agency coordinate
broadband funding so it can be distributed in an efficient
manner, in a financially sustainable manner, and with the goal
of serving the largest number of persons in the United States
while promoting the most job and economic growth for all
residents in our country?
Mr. Redl. Well, I am sure that every one of the programs
looks at that individually. The across-Government aspect of
that is what we are currently looking into right now.
Mr. Tonko. OK. And just the coordinating activity amongst
agencies, because I know in our research before we drafted the
bill there was this plethora of agencies that are involved and
perhaps not communicating well enough with each other.
Mr. Redl. Absolutely, and this subcommittee certainly has
a rich history of looking into those issues and trying to
ensure that we don't have duplicative funding from multiple
agencies.
Mr. Tonko. And have you encountered any barriers to
working across offices or agencies?
Mr. Redl. You know, the Broadband Internet Working Group
that we have been tasked with chairing has been around for a
couple of years, and I think it's proven to be a real dynamic
way for the agencies to get together that all have equities in
internet work and find ways to work despite the fact that we
are all from different agencies and that we have different
missions.
It's been an eye-opening experience to see how well these
agencies are capable of working when they are given a direct
task and asked to go do it across boundaries.
Mr. Tonko. Thank you. And could tracking this funding
better ensure that the money is not duplicative or wasteful?
Mr. Redl. I certainly hope so. I mean, the last thing we
want to do as a Federal Government is to spend more money than
we have to to achieve our goals.
That's what we are looking at doing if we were to get
additional funding for mapping. It's what we are looking at in
the Broadband Interagency Working Group. We'd like to find ways
to reach that last part of America that does not have broadband
in a way that's as fiscally responsible as possible.
Mr. Tonko. And is NTIA in the best position to track
broadband funding across Federal agencies?
Mr. Redl. Well, we are working in a group right now that
is NTIA and Rural Utility Service from Ag, along with others.
But at the moment, it's a team effort across the entire Federal
Government, and we are happy to be working with our colleagues.
Mr. Tonko. Would there be another agency that were perhaps
better suited to track this funding?
Mr. Redl. Not that I am aware of. I mean, we are certainly
trying to figure that out right now. Part of the challenge is
that broadband is one of those issues that crosses so many
jurisdictional boundaries. It provides service in so many
different verticals and other aspects of Government service
that we are trying to bring all those stakeholders together in
a way that addresses everybody's needs.
We are at the early stages. You know, I don't want to sort
of overpromise here. But we are at the early stages, and we are
really looking forward to getting down and getting our hands
dirty and getting this work done.
Mr. Tonko. And NTIA engages in outreach to communities
that need greater access. So what community outreach have you
conducted in the past year, and have you seen indications that
these outreach efforts and workshops are valuable to our
communities?
Mr. Redl. We absolutely have. You know, our State
Broadband Leaders Network has extensive relationships with
folks at the State, county, and local level, and we continue to
bring them together on a fairly routine basis to exchange best
practice, to share success stories, frankly to share failure
stories, as well, for failure to, you know, get the economic
investment that they were looking for.
We are excited to be doing a workshop in Nashville,
Tennessee, in the coming months. And so this is an ongoing
process for us to continue to reach out to State and local
leaders and say, ``What have you learned, and how can we
disseminate that information across the entire country?''
Mr. Tonko. Thank you very much.
And with that, Madam Chair, I yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. The gentleman yields back, and there are
no further Members wanting to ask questions.
Mr. Doyle. Madam Chair.
Mrs. Blackburn. You're recognized, Mr. Doyle.
Mr. Doyle. Thank you. I ask unanimous consent to submit
for the record a letter to the subcommittee from the Electronic
Privacy Information Center.
Mrs. Blackburn. Without objection, so ordered.
[The information appears at the conclusion of the hearing.]
Mr. Doyle. Thank you.
Mrs. Blackburn. And I also have a UC request for a letter
from the Utilities Technology Counsel. Without objection, so
ordered.
[The information appears at the conclusion of the hearing.]
Well, you've gotten the first one under your belt, Mr.
Redl, and I think you see that there is agreement from both
sides up here that we have efficient use of the funds that are
there for NG9-1-1. We are all concerned about mapping and
broadband rollout, making certain that we utilize spectrum
well.
So we thank you for the insight you've provided.
Pursuant to committee rules, I remind Members that they
have 10 business days to submit additional questions for the
record, and I ask that you will submit these written answers
within 10 business days.
Seeing no further business to come before the subcommittee
today, committee is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:53 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]
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