FCC bureau chief speaks to LMCC annual meeting
Thomas J. Sugrue, chief of the FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, spoke at the Land Mobile Communications Council’s annual meeting in Washington on April 20.
Sugrue held out the prospect for charging user fees to private land mobile radio licensees. Such fees are seen as an alternative that might help private users forestall the auctioning of all future spectrum that might be reallocated from federal to civilian use, saving some for private radio. Sugrue sees the idea in the context of using marketplace forces to enhance efficient spectrum use.
“The theory is that once a cost is placed on bandwidth and coverage, licensees would improve the efficiency of their use of both. …[S]pectrum congestion would be significantly relieved.”
He pointed out that the FCC lacks authority to charge user fees instead of using auctions. “If user fees come about, it will only be because Congress thinks they are a good idea,” Sugrue said.
The bureau chief said he expects a Report and Order to be issued by June 30 in the proceeding that includes LMCC’s proposal to allocate 10MHz of spectrum in the 1.4GHz range for a new Land Mobile Communications Service.