Communications industry representatives as they talk about Wireless Technology and spectrum policy, including the federal communication commissions recent spectrum options and innovation and the future security of communications and wireless devices and applications. Good morning. On behalf of my friend senator shotts, and i, im glad to convene the first hearing of subcommittee on communications technology, innovation and the internet, with 115th congress. So welcome to you all. As we all know, in todays connected world, the demand for spectrum increases with every new technology. Spectrum is the life blood of this connectivity, improving lives of people around the globe. Our discussion of spectrum policy today comes on the heels of this committees approval of the mobile now app. Under chairman thunes leadership, we have taken a significant bipartisan step toward freeing up spectrum with the next generation. And people should silence their devices, by the way. Right on key, thank you, senator. For the next generation Wireless Services, with the approval of this legislation. I hope to see Senate Passage of the bill in the near future. Our discussion of spectrum policy should continue with rapid growth in the use of mobile devices. And the internet of things demand for spectrum will only increase. Spectrum is giving Rural America the tools and resources it needs. Applications that utilize mobile broadband provide the means to deliver Quality Health care in the most remote corners of our states and transmit Real Time Data for improved Crop Production on our farms. Satellite services are providing television, broadband and earth observation for a variety of applications. Next gen tv has the potential to deliver Better Emergency Services and ultimately save lives. This is particularly important to states like mississippi, that can be situated in the paths of hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters. Unlicensed spectrum offers although innovation demands more efficient spectrum use, innovation will also be what solves the problem of limited spectrum. Were here today to talk about the value of spectrum to the economy. Were here to talk about what we have learned from the fccs recent spectrum options and how unlicensed spectrum is a vital piece to the puzzle. I also hope our discussion will encourage a focus on the future of spectrum policy and set the stage for this committee to look at ways to address spectrum demand. I would like to welcome all of our witnesses, and i will introduce them in a moment. And after we have turned for an Opening Statement to our colleague mr. Shotts. Thank you, mr. Chairman, for convening this hearing and to the witnesses for being here today. Spectrum is the invisible infrastructure that has become the on ramp to access the internet. Thanks to mobile and Wireless Technologies, people can read the news, transfer money, watch shows, video chat with a doctor, all from their mobile device. In a short time, these technologies transformed our lives. With new 5g Wireless Network and the internet of things, demand for spectrum will continue to grow. The value of that spectrum delivers to the economy is hard to overstate. It generates new investments, facilitates innovation, supports job growth across a range of industries, and advancements in mobile and wireless clearly benefit consumers and most industry sectors, but revolutionized engagement in politics, transformed news and enhanced Public Safety. Though the focus is on the economic benefits of commercial spectrum, it is vital to point out that the federal government also has critical spectrum knees for security, transportation, weather forecasting and a wide range of other government services. We must continue to work with the agencies to ensure they have the spectrum resources they need now and in the future. We should also build open the successes of the spectrum relocation fund, to make it more attractive for agencies to vacate or share bans with more commercial users where that is possible. Since we cant create more spectrum, we need to be more creative in how we manage competing spectrum needs. Im confident that industry will find innovative ways to make better use of the bans they have, but we need to find a balance between the competing public and private sector needs for more terrestrial and satellite capacity and the need forre adequate spectrum availab for licensed and unlicensed uses. Mobile now includes a bill that senator moran and i introduced that would require the government to develop a National Plan for unlicensed spectrum. A lot of attention focuses on how to make new frequencies available for the license side, we also near a clear plan to support continued innovation in the shared license bans. They have become an affordable way for pep ople to get online. I trust the committee will continue to work with the agencies and stake holders to make more bans available to khm commercial users over the coming weeks and months. We need to make sure people from all walks of life across the country have access to wireless broadband services. I know the chairman and many of our colleagues on the committee share this point of view. To pursue new opportunities, every stake holder man an effective partner this conversation, a fully staffed fcc led by the chairman and its commissioners is critical to accomplishing thinks goals. Im appalled the white house withdrew. They should defer to congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle for nominees for the commissions as has been the norm. She has been a leader on spectrum policy and strong advocate for consumers. I hope the house will renominate herself. Thank you for initiating this important discussion. I look forward to the witnesss testimony. Thank you very much, senator shotts. We have a distinguished panel that we are looking forward to hearing from at this point. Our witnesses include from left to right, mr. Scott bergman, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs cti wireless association. Mr. Roger etner, founder and lead office, recon analytics. Mr. Dave hiner, Vice President and Deputy Council microsoft corporation. Mr. La plaidny, president and ceo and mr. Tom stroops. Now, we have a lot of people are prepared, come Long Distances and put a lot of thought into this hearing. We have votes at the top of the hour. We want to be respectful of the time and preparation of our witnesses. We will proceed with the testimony. And members will simply proceed in and out during the two votes i think which will begin at the top of the hour. Well be able to proceed in that fashion without having to reset and take the valuable time of these participants. Well begin to my left, and mr. Bergman, youre recognized for five minutes for an Opening Statement. Good morning. Open behalf of ctia, thank you for the opportunity to speak about the significant economic contributions of the u. S. Wireless industry. The power of wireless is transforring how we live and work in every Community Across the country and ever sector of the economy. Were about to have a breakthrough of 5g. It will add trillions of dollars to our economy and three million new jobs. To deliver than promise, the Wireless Industry needs this committees continued leadership to deliver more spectrum and modernize policies. The wireless crew today is a powerful contributor to the u. S. Economy. We have invested over 300 billion and are responsible for more than 4. 6 million jobs. Consumers and businesses continue to adopt mobile broadband with data traffic increasing more that be 25 times since 2010 and expect fod increase another five times by 2021. Americas Wireless Industry stands ready to invest another 275 billion to give networks that will be faster, more responsive and connect more to more devices. It will unleash innovation and growth in industries across our economy, from energy, health care, pup safety. Fiveg will unlook trillions of dollars of benefits and help save thousands of lives. The u. S. Has been a Global Leader, and were poised to leave in 5g. Spectrum is available, stream lighting sighting and investing. The keys to u. S. Leadership sound spectrum and infrastructure policies. License spectrum in particular is a knee is a powerful creator of Economic Growth and jobs. They have taken bipartisan steps to make people trump available for wireless. Now more work remains. We must ensure timely access to new peck trump made available through the incentive auction. It raised 19. 6 billion, making it the second largest fcc auction ever. We support a seemless repacking process and are working to achieve the 39monthscandal so fg is not delayed. The decision to dedicate high band spectrum was also critical. Third, we appreciate this committees continued attention to the spectrum pipeline. It takes on average 13 years to reallocate spectrum for wireless use. Policymakers should continue to review federal use of spem truck and continue ways to inivize agencies. Finally, we must modern id our policies. Current federal, state, local setting practices were designed to loan small cells. They will be deployed by the hundreds of thousands. We can remove barriers to deployment by addressing burdensome local permitting, insure i insuring our his storic preservation and directing agencies to speed deployment on federal lands and properties. With a continued focus on spectrum and infrastructure, well be able to ensure that wireless providers it continue to invest, create jobs and leit the world in 5g. Thank you, and i look forward to your questions. Thank you very much. And at this point Ranking Member of the full committee has a unanimous consent request. To insert my comments into the record on this extremely important subject and thank you, mr. Chairman, and ravging member of the subcommittee for holding this hearing. Without objection, the remotes will be assorted at the right place. Thank, senator. Our next witness is mr. Roger etper. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify this morning. My name is roger etner, a research and consulting. Im here to highlight the importance of federal government continuing to free up additional spectrum to support 5d and netwo networks. First, in 2015, americans spent 2. 9 trillion minutes talking on their mobile phones. Tent u. S. Wireless Network Operators have constructed over 307,000 cell sites, from 20 to 2015, u. S. Network operators spend 8 billion to buy spectrum and invested 428. Competition in the u. S. Mobile industry is intense. Two weeks ago nks verizon released their plan. Competitors matched and tried to beat the offer. Just today, at t launched a new pricing plan. 97. 9 of americans can choose from three Network Based platers and 93. 4 can choose from at four jobs . The mobile industry directly and indirectly supports 7 million jobs in the United States. These jobs are a function of the amount of investment the companies spend to build the networks, operate the networks, advertise the networks and services and otherwise work with a wide variety of venders and others 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, who is very existence is dependent on the ebik ewe us to broad band American Companies have built. Uber, lift and air b b would be unthinkable without the data mobile network give them and their customers. Together these three companies alone are valued at 98 billion. To say that the u. S. Mobile industry is one of the driving factors to create new jobs and businesses in the Digital Economy is an understatement, but there is no guarantee the industry will be able to support the kind of exponential demand for mobile networks that it is expected to need. From 2008 to 2015, mobile data usage increased 643 fold and growth is expected to continue unabated. And today the internet of things is the newest frontier for wireless and it has implications for improvements in manufacturing, health care, transportations. There is not a sector in our u. S. Economy that wont be improved by access to fast, mobile broad band networks. Deploying new spectrum is the most effective and quickest way to provide more capacity ahead of the tsunami of demand and ensure the industry can continue to drive Economic Growth and new job creation. Consider every ten megaherts creates 3. 1 billion in gdp and 100 thousands new jobs. The mobile now act is a great next step in the journey to clear more spectrum, but as demand for mobile services is increasing, the need for spectrum is increasing as well. My suggestions for policymakers are few but specific. First, licenses should be allocated in larger channel sizes. 5g deployments need at least 20 by 20 megaherts channels. Ideally in low, medium and high frequencies. Second, 5g deployments for which providers have exclusive use. Third is to help streamline the approval process for new and existing thank you again for the opportunity to testify at this important hearing. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you very much. Mr. Heiner, your recognized. Chairman wicker, rairnging members and members of the Sub Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify. My name is david heiner and i am microsofts Vice President of Regulatory Affairs. Im pleased to have the opportunity to speak with you today about the critical importance of unlicensed spectrum to the u. S. Economy. We all use unlicensed spectrum everyday without giving it much thought. If you open unlock your car with a fee fob or opened your garage door with a remote this morning, if you make a hand free call in your car, youre using unlicensed spectrum. If you have a fitness tracker, youre connecting to your phone with unlicensed spectrum. And of course, we all use wify everyday. Pcs, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, game consoles, smart tvs, thermostats, web cams, 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 spectrum to unlicensed use. Today, unlicensed use spectrum is powering the nations economy. The nations internet economy. We can see it all around us. For example, most u. S. Homes have a wifi connection. Away from home, there are 94 million public wifi hot spots around the world and that is projected to grow to more than 500 million by 2021. People want wifi wherever they go. And they want it for all of their many devices. As of 2015, the industry had shipped more than 10 billion wifi enabled devices. All of this means, of course, that the unlicensed spectrum is very heavily utilized. In fact, according to a report from cisco, in the United States, 55 of total internet traffic is carried over a wifi network. By comparison, just 3. 4 of internet traffic is carried by licensed mobile networks. This flood of traffic has translated into enormous Economic Growth. As detailed in my written testimony, a recent study estimated that by this year unlicensed spectrum would contribute nearly 50 billion to the gpd and 547 billion in economic surplus annually. The public availability of unlicensed spectrum is important to microsoft because our customers depend on connectivity to reach our services. Our Business Strategy is mobile first, cloud first. And what that means is enabling customers to use any connected device to Access InternetServices 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 continuously updated with security and other improvements. In recent years, we developed a new platform called asher to enable anyone to build and deploy cloud services, accessible via the internet. Cloud computing is taking off because it offers tremendous economic efficiencies. But the cloud is wholly dependent on connectivity and the unlicensed bands are the workhorse that enable it. For example, our till lem tri shows that 98 of windows 10 devices are connected to wifi and nearly half of all the data that comes on to and off those devices flows over the wifi connection. Of course, unlicensed spectrum is more than just wifi. The bluetooth connections that were all familiar with operate in unlicensed spectrum as well. The internet of things depends on unlicensed spectrum and tv white space is technology, which carries the promise of bringing broad band to Rural Communities depends upon unlicensed as well. The unlicensed bands have spurred these and so many other innovations because they provide immediate access to shared spectrum resources with low barriers to industry and light regulation. In closing, i would offer two suggestions to promote optimal use of spectrum. First, congress should advance a balanced spectrum policy that includes both licensed and unlicensed spectrum as is done in the mobile now act which we support. Second, through this act and others, policymakers should look for additional opportunities in the low, mid and High Frequency unlicensed bands to help satisfy ever growing demand. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. A