atnngress nf tlJ.e lltnite~ §tat.es masl1ingto11, ilOL 20515 240 April 23, 2019 The Honorable Ajit V. Pai Chairman Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, SW Washington, DC 20554 Dear Chairman Pai: As Co-Chairs of the Congressional Spectrum Caucus, we appreciate the Federal Communications Commission's (Commission) commitment to additional spectrum allocation, efficiency, and innovation. As you know, reallocating spectrum to meet the ever-growing demand for wireless services will be key to our global competitiveness in the race to next generation broadband networks, such as 5G. To that end, we understand you are moving forward with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking focused on shared commercial access to the 1675-1680 MHz band. We commend this proposal for shared federal and non-federal use in this band, which has enjoyed both bipartisan Congressional and Administration support for multiple years. In 2016, we - along with 15 of our colleagues - wrote the Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration expressing our support for shared commercial access to this band in a manner that protects federal radiosonde operations primarily Jed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Since then, we have closely followed the effort to reallocate this band for shared commercial and federal use. We continue to believe that doing so is in the public interest and consistent with longstanding policy goals. We also recognize that this follows significant work done on proposals to reallocate this spectrum for use on a shared federal and non-federal basis and on alternative delivery methods for the critical weather data gathered by NOAA. We applaud these collaborative efforts as vital to maintaining our leadership in the global wireless marketplace. For these reasons, we urge you to continue your work to ensure we have sufficient spectrum capacity necessary to support the development of next-generation wireless services. We look forward to working together further on this matter and on addressing our nation's wireless needs. Sincerely, Doris Matsui Brett Guthrie Member of Congress Member of Congress cc: Commissioner Michael O'Rielly Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Commissioner Brendan Carr Commissioner Geoffrey Starks PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER