Will discuss president trumps budgetary outlines including the boost in military spending, domestic spending cuts and a texan entitlement program. Willthe m. I. T. Review discuss the annual list of temperature technologies and their expected impact. Be sure to watch cspan washington journal live at 7 a. M. Wednesday morning. Now a hearing on Wireless Technology and respective policy including the federal Communications Commissions recent auctions. This Cup Committee hearing is two hours. Good morning, on behalf of my friends and i i am happy to convene this first Sub Committee of innovations in technology and the internet. Welcome to you all. As we all know in todays connected world, the spectrum increases with each new technology. Spectrum is the lifeblood of this connectivity improving the lives of people around the globe. Our discussion comes on the heels of this committees approval of the mobile act. We have taken a significant making sureff to that they are a part of the next generation. People should silence their devices by the way. Right on cue, thank you senator. For the next generation of Wireless Technology. I would like to see the passage of this bill and the near future. This spectrum bill should continue with rapid growth in mobile devices and the internet of things demands for spectrum will only increase. They are giving Rural America the tools and resources they need, applications that use mobile broadband as well as delivering Quality Health care to the most remote corners of our states and transmit real for Crop Production on farms. Satellite Services Provide earth observation and many other applications. Potential to the save lives, this is particularly important for states like mississippi which can be situated amongst hurricanes tornadoes and other disasters. Spectrum offers opportunities for businesses to innovate and continue to fuel the vast expansion of the internet of things. Although innovation demands more use, innovation will also solve the problem of limited spectrum. We are here to talk about the value of spectrum. We are here to talk about what we have learned in the recent how it is a well as vital piece to the puzzle. Willo hope our discussion look at spectrum policy and set the stage for this committee to look at ways in which they are demanded. I would like to welcome all of us. I will introduce them after we have heard an Opening Statement from r. Kelly. Thank you mr. Chairman for this. This is the invisible spectrum that has become the on ramp to the internet. Thank you to Wireless Technologies people can transfer money, watch shows, chat with doctors, all from their mobile device. In a short time, these are transforming our lives with new 5g networks, the demand will continue to grow. Is hard tof spectrum overstate in the economy as we will hear from how we generate new investments. Facilitate innovation, supports job growth amongst a range of mobileies, support for devices clearly benefits and revolutionizes politics, transforms the news and enhances Public Safety. Although the focus on todays hearing is the Economic Outlook on the commercial side it is important that the government also has spectrum needs for security, transportation, whether, at a wide range of other government services. We must continue to work with the agencies to make sure that they have the spectrum resources they need now and in the future. We should also build on the successes of the Spectrum Relocation Fund to make sure usersare more commercial where it is possible. If we cannot create more spectrum, we need to be more managee in how we spectrum needs. I am confident that the industry will find better ways to make demands. You also need to find a balance between public and private sector needs. The need to have adequate spectrum available for licensed and unlicensed users. This committee has passed the mobile now act, it would make more licensed spectrum available. To facilitate infrastructure for 5g this also includes a bill that requires the government to develop a National Plan for unlicensed spectrum. A lot of attention will focus on new frequencies available for the license side. We also need a clear plan for continued innovation in the continued spam. These arent affordable way for people to go on the line. I trust that the committee will continue to work with agencies and stakeholders available to commercial users over the coming months. We also have a responsibility to ensure that people of all walks of life especially those and rural, isolated or hardtoreach areas across the country have access to wireless broadBand Services. I know that many of our colleagues share this point of view. Theyrsue this opportunity must be an effective partner in the conversation. A fully staffed fcc and the chairman is therefore critical to accomplishing these goals. I am appalled that the white house withdrew all pending nominations for federal commission. That is an unnecessarily provocative act. They should defer to congressional leaders on both sides for nominees to this norm. Sion as has been the she has been a leader of spectrum policy and a strong advocate for consumers. I hope that the not white house renominate her and confirm her as we should have done one year ago. This you mr. Chairman for discussion and i look forward to the testimony. You very much senator. We have a distinguished panel that we are looking forward to hearing from at this point. Include from left to right the Vice President of regulatory affairs. And lead analyst of recon analytics. Deputy vice counsel of microsoft corporation. The president and ceo of raycom media. Satelliteent of the cable industry. Prepared inple are longdistance and a lot of people have with talking to this hearing. Of the votes at the top hour. We want to be respectful with time and preparation of our witnesses. It is the chairs and tension to proceed on with the testimony and members will simply proceed votes thatduring the will beginning at the top of the hour. I think we will be able to proceed and that matter. That would we will not have to recess and take the valuable time of his participants. We will begin to my left. You are recognized for five minutes. Good morning mr. Chairman. Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to speak about the significant economic contributions of the u. S. Wireless industry. Powers of wireless have trump armed how we live and work across the country and in every sector of the economy. We are about to have a breakthrough and 5g the next generation of wireless. This will add trillions of dollars to our economy. As well as 3 million new jobs, from 3500 in honolulu. Industry needs the continued leadership to develop more spectrum and modernize infrastructure spending. Wireless industry today is a powerful can trigger to the u. S. Economy. Our members have invested over 300 billion over the last 10 years. We are responsible for more than 4. 6 million jobs. Consumers and businesses theynue to have broadband, use is more than 25 times since 2010. That is expected to increase in other five times by 2021. Americas Wireless Industry is threatened to invest another 75 that dollars to develop 5g will be faster and more responsive and connect to more devices. Will develop a new generation of smart communities. It will unleash innovation and growth in industries across the economy. From energies, health care, public as predation. Cars, it willg unlock trillions of dollars to the deficit. It will help save thousands of lives. The u. S. Has been the Global Leader in internet, we are but theo lead in 5g global competition is fierce. All across the world they are at the chase. Leadership are. Sound spectrum if a structure policy. And put in a key Global Network and a powerful creator of Economic Growth and job. Takenss and the fcc have steps to making sure that they are available. Now our work remains to be seen for 5g. You must ensure timely active for the incentive option. Unlicensedow 14 for users. It raised 14 billion. Making it the secondlargest at the auction ever. Achievingmitted to the fccs potential so that is not delayed. Second, the decision to designate highbandwidth services was also critical. The fcc played targeted reforms by having an additional speed to broadband. We then also appreciate the dedication to spectrum. It takes about 13 years for this, this ensures our need to start today. Policymakers should continue to review the users and look at the ways agencies can use it more effectively. Modernize, sot that Wireless Networks can be up to avoid rapidly and efficiently. It will be for all sales that will be essential for 5g. Box, the size of a pizza it will be deployed by the hundreds and thousands. We can remove barriers to deployment, by having local polls,ing, ensuring in making sure that costs are reasonable. Our Environmental Review process and directing agencies to speed deployment on federal land agencies. With a continued focus on infrastructure, we will continue to make sure that wireless providers will continue to invest and create jobs and lead the world in five g. Wicker thank you. At this point, our Ranking Member of the full committee has a unanimous consent request. Senator to insert my comments into the record on this extremely important subject and thank you mr. Chairman and Ranking Member of the subcommittee for holding this hearing. Sen. Wicker without objections, the remarks will be inertserted in the appropriate place in the record. Our next witness is mr. Roger entner. Sir, you are recognized. Mr. Entner good morning, chairman wicker, and Ranking Member, and members of the committee. My name is roger entner and i am the found of a Research Consulting firm with a focus on wireless. I am hear to discuss research in the effect the market has on the economy and the government freeing up spectrum. First, a quick overview of the mobile industry. In 2015, americans spent 2. 9 trillion minutes talking on their cellphones, 218 billion pictures and used 9. 6 trillion megabytes of data. U. S. Operators have constructed over 3,000 sites. U. S. Network operations have spent 77. 8 billion to buy spectrum and invested 423 billion to build occupy the speed and capacity of the network. Two weeks ago, verizon reintroduced their unlimited plans and in less than four days competitors matched and tried to beat the offer. Just today, at t launched another new pricing plan. 97. 9 americans can chose from three base operators. The mobile industry is one of the top competitors. How does this relate to jobs . The mobile industry, directly and indirectly, support seven million jobs in the United States. The jobs are a function of the mount of Investment Companies spend to build and work with a wide variety of vend ors to create and sustain what we know as the American MobileConsumer Experience and the u. S. Wireless industry. As a result, the mobile industry contributed 194. 8 billion in gdp in 2014. The app and mobile content market is a 36 billion industry whose very existence is depended on the fast mobile broadband network. Companies like uber, lyft and airbnb would be unthinkable without the direct connections the mobile internet gives thep. These three companies alone are value valued at 98 billion. To say this industry is one of the driving factors combroeg the economy is an understatement. But there is no guarantee they will be able to support the mobile demand that a fully Network Economy is expected to meet. From 20082015, mobile data usage increased 643 fold and growth is expected to continue unabated. Today in the internet of things it is the newest frontier for wireless and has implications. There is not a sector in the u. S. Economy that will nut not be improved by access to mobile networks. Deploying new spectrum is the most effective and quickest way to provide and ensure the industry can provide Economic Growth and new job creation. Consider, every ten megahertz creates 3. 1 billion in gdp and 100,000 new jobs. The mobile now act is a great next step in clearing more spectrum. As the demand is increasing the need for spectrum is increasing. First, licenses should be allocated in larger channel sizes. 5g deployments need at least 20 by 20 megahertz channels. Second, access to clear spectrum for which providers have exclusive u. S. Third, streamline the process. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify at this important hearing. I look forward to answering your question. Sen. Wicker mr. Heiner, you are recognized. Heiner, you are recognized. Chairman, Ranking Member, members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify. My name is dave heiner and i am microsofts Vice President of regulatory affairs. I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to you about the critical importance of the unlicensed spectrum. We all use it every day without giving much thought. If you open your car with a key fob or opened your garage door with a remote, make a hands free call in your car, you are using unlicensed spectrum. We all use wifi every day, of course. Pc, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, game consoles, webcams, Lighting Systems and countless other devices connect to the internet and one another with unlicensed wifi spectrum. This Success Story is no accident. Congress and the fcc had great foresight decades ago in opening up unlicensed use. Today it is powering the nations economy. Most u. S. Homes have a wifi connection. Away from home, 94 million public wifi hot spots are around the world and that is projected to grow to more than 500 million by 2021. People want wifi wherever they go and wnt it for all of their american devices. As of 2015, the industry had shipped more than ten million wifi enabled devices. All of this means unlicensed spectrum is heavily utilized. According to cisco, 55 of the internet is carried by unlicensed mobile networks. This flood of traffic has translated into the enormous Economic Growth. As details in my written testimony, a recent study estimated unlicensed spectrum would contribute 50 billion to the gdp. The public availability of spectrum is important to microsoft because our Business Strategy is mobile first, cloud first. What that means is enabling customers to use any connected device to Access Services running in massive data centers which we call the cloud. Our products like windows and office used to be stand alone programs but no more. Today they are always connected enabling new features and being updated with security and other improvements. Cloud computing is taking off but the cloud is totally depe dependant upon connectivity and the bands are what enable it. For example, our telemetry shows that 98 of windows 10 devices are connected to wifi and half of the all data coming on to and off those devices connect to unlicensed spectrum. The blue tooth connections we are all familiar with operate on unlicensed spectrum. The internet of things depends upon unlicensed spectrum and tv white space which carries the prom of bringing broadbrand broadband to rule communities are spared as well. They provide immediate access to shared spectrum resources with low barriers to century and light regulation. In closing, i would offer two suggestions to promote optimal use of spectrum. Congress should include a licensed and unlicensed spectrum as is done in the mobile now act which we support. Second, through this act and others policy makers should look for additional opportunities in the low, mid and High Frequency unlicensed bands to help satisfy eve growing demand. Thank you again for allowing me to testify. Thank you very much. Mr. Laplatney. Thank you. May name is Pat Laplatney and i am the president and ceo of recon media. I am testifying on behalf of the National Association of broadcasters and the stations that serve communities across the country with free locally focused program. I appreciate the voluntary upgrade that broadcasters across the country are making. In a world where broadband expectation is similar to water the importance of local broadcasting and the trusted coverage it affords is paramount. We will deliver most watched programming to constituents in new and exciting ways. Next Gen Television is ultra clear and enhances the experience. It will save lives and generates interactive content such as drop down menus. It enables access to broad television through smart phones and tablets ensuring local stations are available any time any through any platform. It offers more channels for free and no expensive bill or data plan is required. The recent broadcast coverage of the tornado in mississippi and the hurricanes on the big island of hawaii provide ample evidence of the potential benefits that next gen will afford. It will provide enhanced ale alerting and the potential for mobile access had signals failed. Public and commercial broadcasters, consumer electronic manufacturing and Public Advocates petitioned to market transition to this new next gen standard. After several months, the fcc approved a notice of proposed will making. We stand willing to make necessary adjustments to provide an upgrade. We need the fcc to finalize the rules in order to move forward. We applaud the fcc for its work to date and encourage the committee to stay engaged. I want to highlight one issue to congress that pose