Rosenworcel, O'Rielly, Clyburn Seek Congressional Support on TVWS

and Jessica Rosenworcel plus ex-member Mignon Clyburn spoke at a webinar Tuesday. "It can happen this year," O'Rielly said of an FCC TVWS vote. He said the issue has the support of his colleagues but with all the other items on the agenda, it's a matter of priority. Having a statutory deadline helps, said Rosenworcel. O'Rielly preferred to defer to Congress, saying such guidance could be an impetus. Commissioners 5-0 approved an NPRM in February seeking comment on proposals to allow devices to operate with higher power in less-congested areas (see 2002280055). The FCC declined to comment now. Morgan Reed, president of webinar host ACT|The App Association, said Congress should give the FCC the resources it needs to make this possible: "I'm never a fan of unfunded mandates." "We need every type of broadband infrastructure at our disposal" to ensure the U.S. can be connected affordably, Clyburn said. Economies of scale support fiber infrastructure in urban areas, Clyburn said, "but we have a crazy big country, and a lot of it is not dense in population." She acknowledged that "whatever's decided is not going to be perfect." The FCC must be mindful of harmful interference and do what it can to promote flexibility, she said: Regulatory certainty could help encourage equipment manufacturers "to do what they promised." She wants the agency to expedite the tough decisions needed. "We don't have funding mechanisms for some of these investments" in precision agriculture or telehealth, said Nicol Turner Lee, Brookings Institution Center for Technology Innovation senior fellow. Instead of going to current government programs, she said, "maybe we should move past some of these patchworks to fund these smaller projects."