STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL
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
Our airwaves are infrastructure.  Though they are invisible, they are a national resource that we 
must put to use in ways that are smart, efficient, and—true to statute—consistent with the public interest.  
But the demands on our airwaves are growing at breathtaking speed.  Look around and the reasons why 
are obvious.  We are a nation with more wireless phones than people.  More than half of those phones are 
smartphones.  One in four households now owns a tablet computer.  We talk, write, read, listen, watch, 
and create on mobile devices.  But what we do today with mobile is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.  
Because what will emerge in the next few years is a mountain of 50 billion interconnected devices and a 
whole new world of the Internet of Things.  
To respond successfully to this seismic shift and growing demand we must innovate.  Innovation 
will take three forms—spectrum, topology, and technology.  
With respect to spectrum, the Commission has new auctions, including the world’s first incentive 
auctions, on the not-too-distant horizon.
With respect to topology, the Commission has taken steps to expand the use of small cells, 
including in the 3.5 GHz band.  
Today, the Commission turns to the third component of wireless innovation—technology.  
New technologies do not arrive on the scene without exhaustive study.  Experimentation is 
important and necessary.  So we are making changes to our rules to expedite wireless experimentation, 
providing more up front and early opportunity to innovate.  We do this by creating a new type of 
license—a program license—to ease regulatory burdens that otherwise might slow down and shackle new 
studies.  We also create a new medical experimentation license to help expand the ways wireless devices 
can improve healthcare.  Finally, we facilitate downstream research by making market testing of new 
products less cumbersome.     
In practice, what does all of this mean?  It means more power to explore at research laboratories 
and universities, more ability to play with power levels, and more opportunity to dream big and create.  
Already we have seen what experimental licenses have produced—systems to support rocket launches, 
development of patient monitoring equipment, and new robotic technology for the armed forces.  Simply 
neat stuff.
But there is more we can do on the technology front to further innovation and to manage the 
growing demand for our airwaves.  That is why I want to briefly mention another action the Commission 
is considering, though not at today’s meeting.  
For the first time in over a decade, we are beginning to take a serious look at how new radio 
equipment is approved.  We have in front of our offices a proposed rulemaking designed to expedite the 
equipment authorization process.  Right now, new devices can take months to make it through our 
certification process.  Because the number of devices in this process is expanding, our systems deserve an 
update to meet this demand.  By moving new devices through our approval process more quickly we can 
put them on the market sooner. This is an initiative I support and want to work with my colleagues to 
rapidly move forward.  
Moreover, I think combining streamlined equipment authorization with new experimental 
licenses will provide a great jolt to wireless innovation.  It is an exciting time for mobile technology—and 
I thank the Office of Engineering and Technology for its efforts on both of these items.