House Commerce Ranking Member Walden 'Skeptical' of Democratic Reps' Airwaves Ambitions

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Democratic colleagues have expressed interest in legislation to allocate prime 5G airwaves known as the C-band and to use auction proceeds to help fund broadband buildout. But House Commerce Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) is signaling some reservations. “I’m a little skeptical,” Ranking Member Walden said before leaving for the August recess. The current satellite holders of the spectrum licenses “aren’t being forced to give it up or sell it,” Walden said, adding that other players are “starting to raise concerns about potential interference problems in those bands.” The Senate may also wade into the debate — top appropriator Sen John Neely Kennedy (R-LA), who like Chairman Doyle is a critic of a privately held auction, said that he’s still “talking about” trying to hitch a C-band provision to government funding legislation but declined to outline contours of such a rider. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, meanwhile, has pledged to come to some sort of decision on these airwaves fall 2019.