STATEMENT OF CHAIRWOMAN JESSICA ROSENWORCEL Re: Partitioning, Disaggregation, and Leasing of Spectrum, WT Docket No. 19-38 A few years back, Senator Klobuchar and Senator Fischer introduced bipartisan legislation to increase opportunities for spectrum access and extend the reach of wireless broadband in rural communities. They proposed to do this by providing incentives for large wireless carriers to make their unused spectrum available to smaller rural carriers, who were ready and willing to put it to use to bring new wireless service to some of the nation’s hardest to reach areas. This was a good idea, and it was incorporated into the MOBILE NOW Act. Today we are working to put this idea into practice. We are doing that by proposing a new program to help grow wireless competition and create new opportunities for smaller carriers and Tribal Nations to succeed in their wireless ambitions. We’re calling it the Enhanced Competition Incentive Program, or ECIP. Here’s how it works. We know today that some wireless providers have access to airwaves that others might be better positioned to deploy. But our rules don’t always make it easy to get spectrum resources to those who want to build in the places that need it most. This new program will help fix that by building better incentives. Specifically, an existing wireless provider that uses its license to create new spectrum opportunities for small carriers, Tribal Nations, or others serving rural areas will see gain and not just loss for doing so because we’ll reward them with longer license terms, more flexible construction requirements, and some more options for complying with our rules. But that’s not all. We also seek comment on related polices that would facilitate a range of new opportunities in these areas for everything from the internet of things to precision agriculture. My thanks to the dedicated staff who worked on this effort to promote competition and deployment. That includes Lloyd Coward, Peter Daronco, Diane Dupert, Garnet Hanly, Susannah Larson, Georgios Leris, Paul Malmud, Jon Markman, Charles Mathias, Justin McCuen, Susan Mort, Roger Noel, Katherine Patsas Nevitt, Jessica Quinley, Linda Ray, Blaise Scinto, Nadja Sodos Wallace, Dorothy Stifflemire, Cecilia Sulhoff, Joel Taubenblatt, and Jeffrey Tignor from the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau; David Horowitz, Doug Klein, and Bill Richardson from the Office of General Counsel; Patrick Brogan, Patrick DeGraba, Judith Dempsey, Rachel Kazan, Kate Matraves, Mark Montano, Michelle Schaefer, Don Stockdale, Emily Talaga, and Aleks Yankelvich from the Office of Economics and Analytics; Shannon Lipp, Neal McNeil, and Josh Zeldis from the Enforcement Bureau; Carolyn Conyers, Matthew Duchesne, Barbara Esbin, Derik Goatson, and Sayuri Rajapakse from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau; and Chana Wilkerson from the Office of Communications Business Opportunities.