[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 36 (Thursday, March 6, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3321-S3323]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself, Mr. Sununu, Mr. Burns, Mr. Dodd, 
        Mr. Gregg, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Leahy, 
        Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Lott, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Miller, 
        Mr. Dorgan, and Mr. Kerry):
  S. 564. A bill to facilitate the deployment of wireless 
telecommunications networks I order to further the availability of the 
Emergency Alert System, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, today I rise to introduce the Emergency 
Communications and Competition Act, ECCA, along with my colleague from 
New Hampshire, Senator Sununu. We are joined by twelve of our 
colleagues, led by Senator Burns, the distinguished chairman of the 
Commerce Communications Subcommittee, as well as Senators Dodd, Gregg, 
Hutchison, Inouye, Jeffords, Lott, Kennedy, Leahy, Lieberman, Mikulski, 
and Miller.
  The bill we introduce today is identical to S. 2922, the measure 
which Senator Burns and I co-authored in the 107th Congress. I was very 
pleased and grateful for the tremendous support this legislation 
received from local television broadcasters and a wide range of public 
interest groups that speak for consumers, minority groups, rural 
Americans, health care, public safety, and property rights.
  This bill will ensure that consumers will soon be able to avail 
themselves of an innovative new wireless technology that has been 
approved by the Federal Communications Commission. It is called the 
Multichannel Video Distribution and Data Service, MVDDS, a title which 
accurately describes what this new service will provide consumers: 
cable competition and high speed access to the Internet.
  As I indicated in my introductory remarks to S. 2922 last September, 
unless Congress enacts this legislation, it may be years before MVDDS 
is actually deployed to the public. That would be a lost opportunity 
for consumers. We need to improve our communications infrastructure, 
not only for greater access to cable and the Internet, but also for 
public safety purposes. MVDDS technology can address all of these 
needs, and we should remove unnecessary and counterproductive 
regulatory obstacles that prevent its swift deployment.
  The Consumers Union, like many, has supported ECCA because it will 
help ensure that competition rapidly emerges for video programming as 
well as high speed Internet services. Earlier this year, the Consumers 
Union issued a report, ``Cable Mergers, Monopoly Power and Price 
Increases,'' which documents the most recent steep rate increases 
imposed by cable operators. The report noted, for instance, that cable 
rates in Baton Rouge soared 7 percent last November. This was typical 
of rate increases throughout the country.
  According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, cable rates rose 11.4 percent in just the last two years. 
This compares to a 3.8 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index 
over the same period. According to the FCC, just one percent of cable 
communities enjoy ``effective competition.'' I submit that this 
startling lack of competition, more than anything else, explains why 
local cable rates have increased at three times the inflation rate.
  If MVDDS can go head-to-head with incumbent cable systems in all 
parts of the country, I believe that this good old fashioned 
competition will result in lower prices and better service for 
consumers--even for those who don't choose to subscribe to MVDDS.
  Rural organizations recognize the extraordinary opportunity this new 
wireless technology can offer rural Americans. They understand that the 
FCC's Order, which authorized MVDDS, will likely fail to ensure this 
new technology will indeed adequately serve rural America.
  Local television broadcasters support this measure because it will 
ensure consumers in their markets can view all local television 
stations. Today, satellite operators DirecTV and EchoStar do not carry 
over 1,000 local TV channels--and no stations from ten States: Alaska, 
Arkansas, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Mississippi, North and South Dakota, 
West Virginia, and Wyoming. As you know, the satellite operators sought 
to merge so that they would have sufficient capacity to carry all local 
TV stations, but federal regulators rejected the merger on 
anticompetitive grounds.
  The Emergency Communications and Competition Act, which we are re-
introducing today, will restore fairness in the FCC licensing process, 
and in so doing, speed the deployment of MVDDS to applicants that are 
ready to launch service to the public now.
  The bill provides that MVDDS applicants will be licensed in the same 
manner as satellite companies who applied on the same day to share the 
same spectrum. Currently, the FCC plans to subject only MVDDS 
applicants to an auction process. This would impose a discriminatory 
tax on an innovative new technology. Unfortunately, this is more of the 
same burdensome regulation that I believe has contributed to the 
collapse of the telecommunications sector. Government regulation is 
necessary, certainly, but we must be smart in how we regulate business. 
We must ensure that our laws and regulations are technologically 
neutral so

[[Page S3322]]

that government policies don't replace the role of the marketplace in 
determining the fate of consumer products and services.
  In an Order released last month, the FCC recognized the need to 
prevent disparity in licensing when it authorized certain satellite 
spectrum to be re-used for mobile terrestrial service without requiring 
a spectrum auction. Similarly, the ECCA would prohibit the FCC from 
conducting an auction for licenses that re-use satellite spectrum for 
fixed terrrestrial operations.
  Furthermore, an action would drastically delay the introduction of 
service to the public. Mr. President, this is quite the opposite of 
what spectrum auctions are supposed to do. In this case, industry 
incumbents can abuse the auction process to block the introduction of 
new competition. A company with vast resources available could easily 
trounce a small startup in an auction--and then, under the terms of the 
FCC's Order, it would not have to deploy service for 10 years. 
Consumers cannot and should not have to wait while this spectrum is 
``shelved'' for an entire decade.
  The ECCA solves this problem by ensuring that only qualified 
applicants will be licensed. That is, within six months of enactment, 
the FCC would issue licenses to any applicant that can demonstrate 
through independent testing that it will employ a technology that won't 
cause harmful interference to DBS operators with whom they would share 
spectrum. Then, to be sure that service is in fact deployed, the ECCA 
requires licensees to provide service to consumers within five rather 
than ten years.

  This legislation also requires that parties who apply for licenses 
under this provision must assume specific public interest obligations 
in exchange for their prompt licensing. The bill requires full must-
carry of local television stations, and an additional set aside of 4 
percent of system capacity for other pubic interest purposes such as 
telemedicine and distance learning. I can assure my colleagues that 
these are issues particularly important in rural areas in states like 
Louisiana.
  The ECCA will also promote public safety, in two ways. First, it will 
require MVDDS licensees to air Emergency Alert System warnings, 
including AMBER alerts for missing children. EAS warnings are presently 
carried by cable systems and over-the-air broadcasters, but they are 
not seen by those who get their programming from DBS unless the viewer 
happens to be watching a local channel. Obviously, the need for greater 
dissemination of EAS warnings is particularly important for the ten 
states in which no local stations are carried via satellite.
  Second, this legislation requires MVDDS licensees to make their 
transmission systems available to national security and emergency 
preparedness personnel on a top-priority basis in times of need. We all 
know that when emergencies strike, the need for public safety personnel 
to communicate with one another skyrockets. MVDDS wireless networks, 
which will be deployed ubiquitously throughout the country, can help 
alleviate this thirst for spectrum.
  For these reasons, I believe that Congress should act on this matter 
as soon as possible. I urge my colleagues to support his bill and vote 
for enactment. I as, unanimous consent that the text of this bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 564

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Emergency Communications and 
     Competition Act of 2003''.

     SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

       The purposes of this Act are as follows:
       (1) To facilitate the deployment of new wireless 
     telecommunications networks in order to extend the reach of 
     the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to viewers of multichannel 
     video programming who may not receive Emergency Alert System 
     warnings from other communications technologies.
       (2) To ensure that emergency personnel have priority access 
     to communications facilities in times of emergency.
       (3) To promote the rapid deployment of low cost multi-
     channel video programming and broadband Internet services to 
     the public, without causing harmful interference to existing 
     telecommunications services.
       (4) To ensure the universal carriage of local television 
     stations, including any Emergency Alert System warnings, by 
     multichannel video programming distributors in all markets, 
     regardless of population.
       (5) To advance the public interest by making available new 
     high speed data and video services to unserved and 
     underserved populations, including schools, libraries, tribal 
     lands, community centers, senior centers, and low-income 
     housing.
       (6) To ensure that new technologies capable of fulfilling 
     the purposes set forth in paragraphs (1) through (5) are 
     licensed and deployed promptly after such technologies have 
     been determined to be technologically feasible.

      SEC. 3. LICENSING.

       (a) Grant of Certain Licenses.--
       (1) In general.--The Federal Communications Commission 
     shall assign licenses in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band for the 
     provision of fixed terrestrial services using the rules, 
     policies, and procedures used by the Commission to assign 
     licenses in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band for the provision of 
     international or global satellite communications services in 
     accordance with section 647 of the Open-market Reorganization 
     for the Betterment of International Telecommunications Act 
     (47 U.S.C. 765f).
       (2) Deadline.--The Commission shall accept for filing and 
     grant licenses under paragraph (1) to any applicant that is 
     qualified pursuant to subsection (b) not later than six 
     months after the date of the enactment of this Act. The 
     preceding sentence shall not be construed to preclude the 
     Commission from granting licenses under paragraph (1) after 
     the deadline specified in that sentence to applicants that 
     qualify after that deadline.
       (b) Qualifications.--
       (1) Non-interference with direct broadcast satellite 
     service.--A license may be granted under this section only if 
     operations under the license will not cause harmful 
     interference to direct broadcast satellite service.
       (2) Acceptance of applications.--The Commission shall 
     accept an application for a license to operate a fixed 
     terrestrial service in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band if the 
     applicant--
       (A) successfully demonstrates the terrestrial technology it 
     will employ under the license with operational equipment that 
     it furnishes, or has furnished, for independent testing 
     pursuant to section 1012 of the Launching Our Communities' 
     Access to Local Television Act of 2000 (47 U.S.C. 1110); and
       (B) certifies in its application that it has authority to 
     use such terrestrial service technology under the license.
       (3) Clarification.--Section 1012(a) of the Launching Our 
     Communities' Access to Local Television Act of 2000 (47 
     U.S.C. 1110(a); 114 Stat. 2762A-141) is amended by inserting 
     ``, or files,'' after ``has filed''.
       (4) PCS or cellular services.--A license granted under this 
     section may not be used for the provision of Personal 
     Communications Service or terrestrial cellular telephony 
     service.
       (c) Prompt Commencement of Service.--In order to facilitate 
     and ensure the prompt deployment of service to unserved and 
     underserved areas and to prevent stockpiling or warehousing 
     of spectrum by licensees, the Commission shall require that 
     any licensee under this section commence service to consumers 
     within five years of the grant of the license under this 
     section.
       (d) Expansion of Emergency Alert System.--Each licensee 
     under this section shall disseminate Federal, State, and 
     local Emergency Alert System warnings to all subscribers of 
     the licensee under the license under this section.
       (e) Access for Emergency Personnel.--
       (1) Requirement.--Each licensee under this section shall 
     provide immediate access for national security and emergency 
     preparedness personnel to the terrestrial services covered by 
     the license under this section as follows:
       (A) Whenever the Emergency Alert System is activated.
       (B) Otherwise at the request of the Secretary of Homeland 
     Security.
       (2) Nature of access.--Access under paragraph (1) shall 
     ensure that emergency data is transmitted to the public, or 
     between emergency personnel, at a higher priority than any 
     other data transmitted by the service concerned.
       (f) Additional Public Interest Obligations.--
       (1) Additional obligations.--Each licensee under this 
     section shall--
       (A) adhere to rules governing carriage of local television 
     station signals and rules concerning obscenity and indecency 
     consistent with sections 614, 615, 616, 624(d)(2), 639, 640, 
     and 641 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 534, 
     535, 536, 544(d)(2), 559, 560, and 561);
       (B) make its facilities available for candidates for public 
     office consistent with sections 312(a)(7) and 315 of the 
     Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 312(a)(7) and 315); and
       (C) allocate 4 percent of its capacity for services that 
     promote the public interest, in addition to the capacity 
     utilized to fulfill the obligations required of subparagraphs 
     (A) and (B), such as--
       (i) telemedicine;
       (ii) educational programming, including distance learning;
       (iii) high speed Internet access to unserved and 
     underserved populations; and

[[Page S3323]]

       (iv) specialized local data and video services intended to 
     facilitate public participation in local government and 
     community life.
       (2) License boundaries.--In order to ensure compliance with 
     paragraph (1), the Commission shall establish boundaries for 
     licenses under this section that conform to existing 
     television markets, as determined by the Commission for 
     purposes of section 652(h)(1)(C)(i) of the Communications Act 
     of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 534(h)(1)(C)(i)).
       (g) Redesignation of Multichannel Video Distribution and 
     Data Service.--The Commission shall redesignate the 
     Multichannel Video Distribution and Data Service (MVDDS) as 
     the Terrestrial Direct Broadcast Service (TDBS).
                                 ______