Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) and Ranking Member Bill Nelson (R-FL) have reintroduced the MOBILE NOW Act in the United States Senate. S. 19, introduced on the first day of the 115th Congress, cleared the Senate Commerce Committee in the last Congress by a voice vote but failed to receive a full Senate vote because of a dispute between former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) over the Senate’s failure to vote on the renomination of former FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel.
Similar to the measure introduced in the last Congress, the bill is intended to boost 5G wireless gigabit broadband deployments by ensuring the availability of spectrum and streamlining federal government processes of sharing or relinquishing spectrum. Among other things, the bill calls for the commercialization of 500 MHz of federal spectrum by 2020 and directs the Federal government to assess 3 GHz band and millimeter wave spectrum. Chairman Thune has stated that he intends to seek full Senate consideration of the bill soon.
