Spectrum capacity is necessary to deliver mobile broadband to consumers and businesses and also to support the communications needs of industries that use fixed wireless broadband to transmit large quantities of information quickly and reliably. Spectrum Policy Provisions in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012

Title VI of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 ( P.L. 112-96 , signed into law on February 22, 2012) contains provisions that include reallocation of spectrum, new assignments of spectrum rights, and changes in procedures for repurposing spectrum used by the federal government. Major provisions in the Spectrum Act that are summarized in this report cover
Deficit reduction; Directed auctions; Incentive auctions for television broadcasters; Reallocation of spectrum from federal to commercial use; and Unlicensed spectrum. The act also has provided for the establishment of a new authority to plan and develop a nationwide public safety broadband network and has included other measures in support of improved emergency communications. Distribution of Proceeds from Auctions Required by the Spectrum Act

Most of the proceeds from auctions of licenses in designated spectrum as specified in the act are to be deposited directly into a Public Safety Trust Fund, created by the act, with nearly $28 billion designated for purposes defined in the act, including $20.4 billion for deficit reduction. To NIST for public safety research: $100 million. These licenses would provide an additional 65MHz of spectrum for commercial broadband. In particular, the GAO noted the variable nature of a number of assumptions for costs and revenues, such as the characteristics of the spectrum to which services would be relocated, the availability of new technology, and market demand for spectrum. Innovation in applying the Internet Protocol (IP) to mobile networks has spurred jobs and economic growth. This expanding industry requires additional spectrum capacity, a key resource. The Spectrum Act employs three key policy tools for increasing the availability of radio frequency spectrum for wireless broadband: allocating additional spectrum; reassigning spectrum to new users; and opening up spectrum for unlicensed use. Facilitating the adoption of new wireless technologies that enable spectrum sharing is emerging as a major policy consideration for spectrum management. Future technological breakthroughs in fields such as quantum communications hold the promise of even greater transmission speeds and spectrum efficiencies.
The convergence of wireless telecommunications technology with the Internet Protocol (IP) is fostering new generations of mobile technologies. This transformation has created new demands for advanced communications infrastructure and radio frequency spectrum capacity that can support high-speed, content-rich uses. Furthermore, a number of services, in addition to consumer and business communications, rely at least in part on wireless links to broadband (high-speed/high-capacity) infrastructure such as the Internet and IP-enabled networks. Policies to provide additional spectrum for mobile broadband services are generally viewed as drivers that would stimulate technological innovation and economic growth.
The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-96, signed February 22, 2012) contained provisions in Title VI that expedite the availability of spectrum for commercial use. The provisions in Title VI —also known as the Public Safety and Spectrum Act, or the Spectrum Act—included expediting auctions of licenses for spectrum designated for mobile broadband; authorizing incentive auctions, which would permit television broadcasters to receive compensation for steps they might take to release some of their airwaves for mobile broadband; requiring that specified federal holdings be auctioned or reassigned for commercial use; and providing for the availability of spectrum for unlicensed use. The act also included provisions to apply future spectrum license auction revenues toward deficit reduction; to establish a planning and governance structure to deploy public safety broadband networks, using some auction proceeds for that purpose; and to assign additional spectrum resources for public safety communications.
Increasing the amount of spectrum available to support new mobile technologies is one step toward meeting future demand for mobile services. This report discusses some of the commercial and federal spectrum policy changes required by the act. It also summarizes new policy directions for spectrum management under consideration in the 113th Congress, such as the encouragement of new technologies that use spectrum more efficiently.