Senate Telecom Package -

During the last Congress, a telecom package was more the subject of chatter than consideration. Yet this Congress, it already has strong momentum. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) is looking to pass a package out of his Committee this month and trying to secure floor time for the bill shortly thereafter. The tentative date of the Committee markup is January 24th. The Committee reportedly will consider twenty bills, around a third of which are expected to relate to telecom. Bills up for consideration likely will be restricted to those that have broad support and are largely non-controversial. Below are summaries of six telecom bills that are strong candidates to make the Committee’s package.

..The MOBILE NOW Act (S.19). Re-introduced this Congress by Chairman John Thune, S.19 seeks to expand next-generation 5G wireless gigabit broadband service. In service of this goal, it would direct various federal agencies to evaluate spectrum bands for 5G, including highband millimeter wave frequencies. The bill also contains several provisions aimed at promoting broadband deployment. The Senate Commerce Committee approved a previous version of the MOBILE NOW Act in a markup last May...