Sens John Kerry (D-MA) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced legislation Thursday requiring the Commerce Department and Federal Communications Commission to make an inventory in six months of how government and private companies are using their airwaves. The legislation is a priority for the wireless industry, which is still looking for more airwaves to scoop up despite an auction last year of TV airwaves that netted the federal treasury upwards of $20 billion. Just a small fraction of U.S. airwaves are used by commercial wireless vendors like AT&T Inc. TV and radio stations use a portion of it but big chunks of airwaves are reserved for use by federal agencies and the military. The idea behind the report is to identify so-called "spectrum squatters" -- both government agencies and private companies -- which aren't actively using the frequencies for which they hold licenses. If Congress approves the legislation, it would set the stage for the FCC and Commerce Department to try to reclaim the airwaves for future auctions -- a task that could be difficult and expensive.
