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STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER MIGNON L. CLYBURN
Re: Promoting More Efficient Use of Spectrum Through Dynamic Spectrum Use 
Technologies, ET Docket No. 10-237, Notice of Inquiry; Promoting Expanded  
Opportunities for Radio Experimentation and Market Studies 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. 06-105, Notice of  
Proposed Rulemaking.
I commend the Chairman for his leadership in promoting the policies put forth in these 
companion items.  If our Nation wants to more effectively compete, we must encourage greater 
research and development and more efficient spectrum use.  Such R&D is not only necessary for 
the advancement of monumental communication innovations, such as the Internet and the World 
Wide Web, but it is also critically important to the success of individual businesses and to our 
overall National economy. A White House study, conducted in September 2009, found that 
research and development is one of the most important pillars in building a foundation for an 
economy that could create jobs and drive sustainable growth.
All of the initiatives in the experimental license NPRM encourage greater R&D, which 
will enable individual entities to do more with their experimental authorizations, facilitate 
collaboration among industry and academics, and streamline rules.  The two initiatives I find 
particularly noteworthy are the research and medical program experimental radio licenses.
Universities and non-profit research institutions have proven they deserve the enhanced 
experimental authorizations, reduced oversight, and streamlined application process that the 
research program license would give.  For example, using experimental licenses, research 
institutions have not only developed ultra-fast, 1 Gigabit per second, research and education 
broadband networks, but they have also demonstrated public service leadership by advocating 
that we help connect these networks to anchor institutions in low-income communities.    
This recommendation can lead to important short-term and long-term economic benefits.  
Community connection projects are, by their nature, job intensive, so connecting these research 
and education networks to low-income communities, can lead to immediate job creation and 
investment opportunities.  For instance, Rutgers University reports, that the Global Environment 
for Network Innovations (GENI) project, which involves 29 universities, has created hundreds of 
jobs in New Jersey alone.  
The National Broadband Plan also explained how Case Western University’s project to 
connect its ultra fast, 1 Gigabit per second network to homes, schools, libraries and museums in a 
low-income community in Cleveland, Ohio, is creating jobs.  This project is also leading to 
software and service development for environmental efficiency, health, and many other 
applications.  These are just a few examples of why we should do as much as we can, as quickly 
as we can, to encourage universities and research institutions to engage in more research and 
development of communications technologies.      
Designing the medical program experimental authorization to promote more test bed 
facilities for new wireless medical devices could speed the development of important 
achievements in health care.  I thank the Food and Drug Administration and the American 
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Society for Healthcare Engineering for collaborating with us on this initiative.  The item 
encourages researchers and physicians to work with Veterans Affairs facilities and military 
services, early in the development of these new devices, I am pleased to see.  Our Wounded 
Warriors have made great sacrifices in defense of our Nation, and we owe it to them to create an 
environment that can lead to faster medical breakthroughs, and help them make the best of their 
return to civilian life.
The medical program experimental license could also accelerate innovations in 
telemedicine to further empower both doctors and patients.  Advances in video technology and 
medical broadband applications are allowing physicians to collaborate with their colleagues 
across the globe, in real time, on difficult cases.  For those suffering from long term and chronic 
illnesses, remote patient monitoring offers greater mobility and independence.  Our agency 
should continue to promote technologies and policies that will give those, in greatest need of 
medical care, more flexibility in finding the right treatment for them.  
The scholarship in today’s Notice of Inquiry on dynamic spectrum use technologies also 
sends the proper message that we must encourage more efficient use of spectrum.  The Notice
recognizes that, to best advance these technologies, the Commission must have a clear 
understanding of how the various parts of the spectrum are being used today.  The item then asks 
detailed technical questions to ensure that we have a comprehensive record on the latest 
developments in dynamic spectrum technologies.  In promoting flexible use policies – such as the 
leasing of licensed spectrum through the secondary market – the Notice presents a cogent analysis 
of the possible techniques our policies already permit.
I thank Doug Sicker, Julie Knapp, and the other technology evangelists in the Office of 
Engineering and Technology, the Office of General Counsel, and the Wireless 
Telecommunications Bureau, for their hard work on these items.