This afternoon, House Ways & Means Committee members Sam Johnson (R-TX) and Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) sought to attach the MOBILE Cell Phone Act (H.R. 690) to small business tax legislation being marked-up by the Committee. H.R. 690, which enjoys bipartisan support from nearly 200 cosponsors, would repeal the arcane IRS listed property rule that requires personal use of employer-provided cell phones to be considered a taxable benefit for employees. I issued the following statement in response to this afternoon’s activity:

“CTIA greatly appreciates the continued leadership on this issue by Representatives Johnson and Pomeroy. Their effort to provide the millions of hardworking Americans who have an employer-provided wireless device relief from the IRS listed property rule is to be commended. 

“While we understand why the amendment had to be withdrawn at this time, we are eager to get the MOBILE Cell Phone Act enacted as soon as possible this year. The rule the bill seeks to correct is outdated and must be repealed as it penalizes productivity and efficiency. 

“In light of the broad support this bill enjoys on the Hill and in the Obama Administration, we urge Congress to act swiftly pass the Johnson-Pomeroy legislation.”

Today, I issued the following statement after the FCC and the Broadband Team released “Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan” to reporters this afternoon:

“CTIA and our member companies are extremely pleased that spectrum is recognized as being pivotal to the National Broadband Plan. We appreciate the FCC’s and the Broadband team’s focus on making ‘500 MHz of spectrum for broadband within 10 years, of which 300 MHz should be made available for mobile use within five years.’ 

“Based on the executive summary, it is clear the Broadband team recognized the importance of the mobile Internet to the economy and to meeting many national priorities. We applaud their commitment to providing everyone equal access to the most advanced wireless communications. 

“We look forward to working with the Chairman and Commissioners, the Broadband Team, Congress and other policymakers to ensure Americans have continued access to and benefit from the most competitive and innovative wireless industry in the world.”

Over the last few weeks, there have been some interesting news on various wireless industry issues so I thought I’d highlight some of them for you. I also included links to two op-eds I recently wrote and were published.  

mHealth:

• The New York Times, A Little Black Box to Jog Failing Memory, 3/8  
• GigaOM, Smartphones Are the New Stethoscope, 2/26  

Misc:

• USA Today, Smartphones have changed the way we travel, 3/5   
• RCRWireless, Op-Ed (Steve Largent): Smartphones—What a difference a year makes!, 3/3  
• Gizmodo, Cellphones become our comfort objects during disasters, 3/2

NBP:

• Wireless Week, Op-Ed (Steve Largent) IMHO: Laying the Foundation for Our Mobile Future, 3/10  
• Coalition Letter to the FCC thanking them for the NBP, 3/10  

Spectrum:

• CongressDaily AM, Inventory Of Spectrum Eyed Under House Bill, 3/11   
• Broadcast Engineering, An academic view on allocating spectrum, 3/8 
• The New York Times, The Buried Treasure in Your TV Dial, 2/27   

Imagine driving down a highway, and seeing another vehicle on fire! That happened to Michigan's Eddie Gren, who signaled to the unknowing driver and had them pull over. That driver turned out to be a disabled man, and Gren combined personal courage and communication via wireless to avert disaster. To learn more watch this segment from our March installment of our Wonder of Wireless webcast, and take a few moments to see what else we have to offer in this month's WOW.    

Employers across the world are equipping their workers with mobile devices. Based on a law established in 1989, employees are supposed to pay taxes on any personal phone call that is made using an employee-issued device. Find out what is being done to repeal this outdated tax code. To learn more watch this segment from our March installment of our Wonder of Wireless webcast, and take a few moments to see what else we have to offer in this month's WOW.    

Recent announcements concerning wireless spectrum allocation and use are positive steps in providing advanced wireless services for consumers and public safety. On this month's WOW we sat down with CTIA's Ass't VP, Regulatory Affairs Scott Bergmann to discuss these proposals, and the importance of spectrum planning for U.S. subscribers and the industry. To learn more watch this segment from our March installment of our Wonder of Wireless webcast, and take a few moments to see what else we have to offer in this month's WOW.  

This afternoon, 27 companies (including carriers, manufacturers, suppliers, operating system developers, content providers) and associations signed a letter thanking the FCC and the Broadband Team for their hard work on the National Broadband Plan. They were given a difficult task and they have been working tirelessly to deliver a comprehensive product.

Specifically, these companies applauded them for the 500 MHz of spectrum as it will be vital to keeping pace with the tremendous demand from consumers and other industries such as healthcare, transportation, energy, and education. This move diverted the brewing spectrum crisis. Instead, the FCC and the Broadband Team have ensured our industry remains the world’s most competitive and innovative in the world.  

We also support efforts to revitalize the Universal Service program. While we all may not ultimately agree on every aspect of the Universal Service Fund proposal, we are encouraged and support efforts to bring the program into the 21st century and support the provision of mobile broadband to America.     

The supporting companies are:

• Alcatel-Lucent (Corporate headquarters in Murray Hill, NJ)
• AT&T (Corporate headquarters in Dallas, TX)
• Bluegrass Cellular, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Elizabethtown, KY)
• Cellcom (Corporate headquarters in Green Bay, WI)
• Clearwire Corp. (Corporate headquarters in Kirkland, WA)
• Cricket Communications, Inc./Leap Wireless International, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in San Diego, CA)
• CTIA – The Wireless Association® (Corporate headquarters in Washington, DC)
• Ericsson Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Plano, TX)
• Google Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Mountain View, CA)
• Illinois Valley Cellular (Corporate headquarters in Marseilles, IL)
• Microsoft, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Redmond, WA)
• Motorola, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Schaumburg, IL)
• Nex-Tech Wireless, LLC (Corporate headquarters in Hays, KS)
• Nokia Inc. (Corporate headquarters in White Plains, NY)
• Nokia Siemens Networks US LLP (Corporate headquarters in Irving, TX)
• Qualcomm (Corporate headquarters in San Diego, CA)
• RIM (Corporate headquarters in Irving, TX)
• Rural Telecommunications Group, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Washington, DC)
• Sprint Nextel (Corporate headquarters in Overland Park, KS)
• Stelera Wireless (Corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City, OK)
• Syniverse Technologies (Corporate headquarters in Tampa. FL)
• Telecommunications Industry Association (Corporate headquarters in Arlington, VA)
• T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Bellevue, WA)
• U.S. Cellular (Corporate headquarters in Chicago, IL)
• Verizon Communications, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in New York, NY)
• Wireless Communications Association International (Corporate headquarters in Washington, DC)
• WestLink Communications, LLC (Corporate headquarters in Ulysses, KS)

To read the full letter, please click here.

I issued the following statement today after the House Committee on Energy and Commerce mark-up of the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act (H.R. 3125) and the Spectrum Relocation Improvement Act (H.R. 3109):

“CTIA and the wireless industry appreciate the leadership by Chairman Henry Waxman and Ranking Member Joe Barton for scheduling a mark-up on these two very important spectrum bills. We look forward to these bills being scheduled for a vote before Congress as they are important pieces in ensuring this industry is able to continue to thrive and invest in the U.S. economy.

“As we have said many times before, spectrum is our industry’s backbone which fuels the ‘virtuous cycle’ of innovation. By identifying current spectrum users and expeditiously relocating them to other bandwidths, the Committee is ensuring our country remains the world’s most competitive and innovative wireless industry. 

“With the continued demand by consumers for mobile Internet along with the increasing use by other industries to improve productivity and efficiency, today’s mark-up was an important step to meet the growing demand.”