STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI Re: Promoting Expanded Opportunities for Radio Experimentation and Market Trials under Part 5 of the Commission’s Rules and Streamlining Other Related Rules, ET Docket No. 10-236; 2006 Biennial Review of Telecommunications Regulations–Part 2 Administered by the Office of Engineering and Technology (OET), ET Docket No. 06-155 For the U.S. to have strong economic growth, we need to have strong growth engines, sectors that hold real promise of major expansion. Few sectors have more growth potential than the wireless sector. Our decision today is important because it helps drive growth in this sector. The mobile “apps economy” has already created more than 500,000 jobs, and is on a major upward job-creation trajectory. Thanks to massive capital investment, the U.S. is leading the world in 4G infrastructure, making us the world’s testbed for LTE advanced wireless innovation. Wireless broadband is also key platform for innovation, investment and growth in verticals like education, health care, and energy. Wireless innovation is a key to U.S. competiveness in today’s flat global economy, in which capital and talent can flow anywhere, and in which our global competitors are intensely focused on becoming innovation and job-creation hubs. One key tool for wireless innovation is experimental licensing. The more experiments, the more innovative products and services. Streamlining our experimental licensing process will help stimulate R&D, which is essential to new innovation, and reduce the time it takes for an idea to get from the lab to the market. FCC experimental licenses have helped the U.S. become the first country in the world to deploy what some call Super Wi-Fi, next-generation unlicensed use which can become a powerful new platform for wireless innovation. Experimental licenses have also enabled the development of mHealth innovations like patient monitoring equipment and Medical Micropower Networks, which could be used to restore functions to paralyzed limbs. They’ve also led to robotic technology for the military and rockets to support commercial space launches. The National Broadband Plan recommended that the Commission start a proceeding to establish more flexible experimental licensing rules for spectrum and to facilitate the use of spectrum by innovators. We have taken a hard look at our rules since then, and are completing that regulatory reform process today. The new licensing regime will transform the FCC’s experimental program into a more modern structure, and ensure that experimental licensees have greater freedom to develop new products and services more rapidly and efficiently, while protecting incumbent services against harmful interference. Our new, more flexible rules, will stimulate R&D, drive innovation, and create jobs, keeping the U.S. at the forefront of the telecommunications industry, and leading the world in the development and use of new medical devices in particular. Our new Program License structure will permit colleges, universities, research organizations, health care institutions, and manufacturers to conduct multiple RF experiments without needing prior approval for each experiment. Program Licenses will significantly expedite the approval process, and save experimenters anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, in addition to saving associated administrative costs. We expect that these new rules will reduce the number of applications that must be filed with the Commission by up to 25 percent for large filers such as Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon, and Motorola. And the new Medical Testing License will allow healthcare institutions to test new RF-based medical devices in real world situations, including clinical trials involving patients in their homes, which will expedite the introduction of new life-saving devices into the marketplace. Thank you to OET for your excellent, creative leadership on this item, and also to the Office of General Counsel, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, and the Media Bureau and the International Bureau for your valuable input.