47 U.S.C. § 1401 — Definitions

Page 431 TITLE 47—TELECOMMUNICATIONS § 1401 (III) the geographic scope of broadband service coverage in the area; and (IV) each entity that has received or will receive funds under the programs described in paragraph (2) to provide broadband service in the area; and (ii) if a covered agency designates any information provided to another covered agency under clause (i) as confidential, the other covered agency shall protect the confidentiality of that information; (C) consider basing the distribution of funds for broadband deployment under the programs described in paragraph (2) on standardized data regarding broadband cov- erage; and (D) provide that the interagency agree- ment shall be updated periodically, except that the scope of the agreement with respect to the Federal Communications Commission may not expand beyond the high-cost pro- grams. (4) Assessment of agreement (A) Public comment Not later than 1 year after entering into the interagency agreement required under paragraph (2), the Federal Communications Commission shall seek public comment on— (i) the effectiveness of the interagency agreement in facilitating efficient use of funds for broadband deployment; (ii) the availability of Tribal, State, and local data regarding broadband deploy- ment and the inclusion of that data in interagency coordination; and (iii) modifications to the interagency agreement that would improve the efficacy of interagency coordination. (B) Assessment; report Not later than 18 months after December 27, 2020, the Federal Communications Com- mission shall— (i) review and assess the comments re- ceived under subparagraph (A); and (ii) submit to the Committee on Com- merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report detailing any findings and rec- ommendations from the assessment con- ducted under clause (i). (Pub. L. 116–260, div. FF, title IX, § 904, Dec. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 3214.) REFERENCES IN TEXT This section, referred to in subsec. (b)(1), was in the original ‘‘this Act’’, which was translated as meaning section 904 of Pub. L. 116–260, div. FF, title IX, Dec. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 3214, to reflect the probable intent of Congress. CODIFICATION Section was enacted as part of the Broadband Inter- agency Coordination Act of 2020 and as part the Con- solidated Appropriations Act, 2021, and not as part of the Broadband Data Improvement Act which comprises this chapter. CHAPTER 13—PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICA- TIONS AND ELECTROMAGNETIC SPEC- TRUM AUCTIONS Sec. 1401. Definitions. 1402. Rule of construction. 1403. Enforcement. 1404. National security restrictions on use of funds and auction participation. SUBCHAPTER I—REALLOCATION OF PUBLIC SAFETY SPECTRUM 1411. Reallocation of D block to public safety. 1412. Flexible use of narrowband spectrum. 1413. Repealed. SUBCHAPTER II—GOVERNANCE OF PUBLIC SAFETY SPECTRUM 1421. Single public safety wireless network li- censee. 1422. Public safety broadband network. 1423. Public safety Interoperability Board. 1424. Establishment of the First Responder Net- work Authority. 1425. Advisory committees of the First Responder Network Authority. 1426. Powers, duties, and responsibilities of the First Responder Network Authority. 1427. Initial funding for the First Responder Net- work Authority. 1428. Permanent self-funding; duty to assess and collect fees for network use. 1429. Audit and report. 1430. Annual report to Congress. 1431. Public safety roaming and priority access. 1432. Prohibition on direct offering of commercial telecommunications service directly to con- sumers. 1433. Provision of technical assistance. SUBCHAPTER III—PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITMENTS 1441. State and Local Implementation Fund. 1442. State and local implementation. 1443. Public safety wireless communications re- search and development. SUBCHAPTER IV—SPECTRUM AUCTION AUTHORITY 1451. Deadlines for auction of certain spectrum. 1452. Special requirements for incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum. 1453. Unlicensed use in the 5 GHZ band. 1454. Guard bands and unlicensed use. 1455. Wireless facilities deployment. 1456. System certification. 1457. Public Safety Trust Fund. SUBCHAPTER V—NEXT GENERATION 9–1–1 ADVANCEMENT ACT OF 2012 1471. Definitions. 1472. Parity of protection for provision or use of Next Generation 9–1–1 services. 1473. Commission proceeding on autodialing. § 1401. Definitions In this chapter: (1) 700 MHz band The term ‘‘700 MHz band’’ means the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between the frequencies from 698 megahertz to 806 mega- hertz. (2) 700 MHz D block spectrum The term ‘‘700 MHz D block spectrum’’ means the portion of the electromagnetic Page 432 TITLE 47—TELECOMMUNICATIONS § 1401 spectrum between the frequencies from 758 megahertz to 763 megahertz and between the frequencies from 788 megahertz to 793 mega- hertz. (3) Appropriate committees of Congress Except as otherwise specifically provided, the term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- gress’’ means— (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate; and (B) the Committee on Energy and Com- merce of the House of Representatives. (4) Assistant Secretary The term ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Commu- nications and Information. (5) Board The term ‘‘Board’’ means the Board of the First Responder Network Authority estab- lished under section 1424(b) of this title. (6) Broadcast television licensee The term ‘‘broadcast television licensee’’ means the licensee of— (A) a full-power television station; or (B) a low-power television station that has been accorded primary status as a Class A television licensee under section 73.6001(a) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations. (7) Broadcast television spectrum The term ‘‘broadcast television spectrum’’ means the portions of the electromagnetic spectrum between the frequencies from 54 megahertz to 72 megahertz, from 76 megahertz to 88 megahertz, from 174 megahertz to 216 megahertz, and from 470 megahertz to 698 megahertz. (8) Commercial mobile data service The term ‘‘commercial mobile data service’’ means any mobile service (as defined in sec- tion 153 of this title) that is— (A) a data service; (B) provided for profit; and (C) available to the public or such classes of eligible users as to be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public, as specified by regulation by the Commission. (9) Commercial mobile service The term ‘‘commercial mobile service’’ has the meaning given such term in section 332 of this title. (10) Commercial standards The term ‘‘commercial standards’’ means the technical standards followed by the com- mercial mobile service and commercial mobile data service industries for network, device, and Internet Protocol connectivity. Such term includes standards developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engi- neers (IEEE), the Alliance for Telecommuni- cations Industry Solutions (ATIS), the Inter- net Engineering Task Force (IETF), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). (11) Commission The term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal Communications Commission. (12) Core network The term ‘‘core network’’ means the core network described in section 1422(b)(1) of this title. (13) Emergency call The term ‘‘emergency call’’ means any real- time communication with a public safety an- swering point or other emergency manage- ment or response agency, including— (A) through voice, text, or video and re- lated data; and (B) nonhuman-initiated automatic event alerts, such as alarms, telematics, or sensor data, which may also include real-time voice, text, or video communications. (14) Existing public safety broadband spectrum The term ‘‘existing public safety broadband spectrum’’ means the portion of the electro- magnetic spectrum between the frequencies— (A) from 763 megahertz to 768 megahertz; (B) from 793 megahertz to 798 megahertz; (C) from 768 megahertz to 769 megahertz; and (D) from 798 megahertz to 799 megahertz. (15) First Responder Network Authority The term ‘‘First Responder Network Author- ity’’ means the First Responder Network Au- thority established under section 1424 of this title. (16) Forward auction The term ‘‘forward auction’’ means the por- tion of an incentive auction of broadcast tele- vision spectrum under section 1452(c) of this title. (17) Incentive auction The term ‘‘incentive auction’’ means a sys- tem of competitive bidding under subpara- graph (G) of section 309(j)(8) of this title, as added by section 6402. (18) Interoperability Board The term ‘‘Interoperability Board’’ means the Technical Advisory Board for First Re- sponder Interoperability established under section 1423 of this title. (19) Multichannel video programming dis- tributor The term ‘‘multichannel video programming distributor’’ has the meaning given such term in section 522 of this title. (20) Narrowband spectrum The term ‘‘narrowband spectrum’’ means the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum be- tween the frequencies from 769 megahertz to 775 megahertz and between the frequencies from 799 megahertz to 805 megahertz. (21) Nationwide public safety broadband net- work The term ‘‘nationwide public safety broadband network’’ means the nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network described in section 1422 of this title. (22) Next Generation 9–1–1 services The term ‘‘Next Generation 9–1–1 services’’ means an IP-based system comprised of hard- Page 433 TITLE 47—TELECOMMUNICATIONS § 1403 ware, software, data, and operational policies and procedures that— (A) provides standardized interfaces from emergency call and message services to sup- port emergency communications; (B) processes all types of emergency calls, including voice, text, data, and multimedia information; (C) acquires and integrates additional emergency call data useful to call routing and handling; (D) delivers the emergency calls, messages, and data to the appropriate public safety an- swering point and other appropriate emer- gency entities; (E) supports data or video communications needs for coordinated incident response and management; and (F) provides broadband service to public safety answering points or other first re- sponder entities. (23) NIST The term ‘‘NIST’’ means the National Insti- tute of Standards and Technology. (24) NTIA The term ‘‘NTIA’’ means the National Tele- communications and Information Administra- tion. (25) Public safety answering point The term ‘‘public safety answering point’’ has the meaning given such term in section 222 of this title. (26) Public safety entity The term ‘‘public safety entity’’ means an entity that provides public safety services. (27) Public safety services The term ‘‘public safety services’’— (A) has the meaning given the term in sec- tion 337(f) of this title; and (B) includes services provided by emer- gency response providers, as that term is de- fined in section 101 of title 6. (28) Public Safety Trust Fund The term ‘‘Public Safety Trust Fund’’ means the trust fund established under section 1457(a)(1) of this title. (29) Radio access network The term ‘‘radio access network’’ means the radio access network described in section 1422(b)(2) of this title. (30) Reverse auction The term ‘‘reverse auction’’ means the por- tion of an incentive auction of broadcast tele- vision spectrum under section 1452(a) of this title, in which a broadcast television licensee may submit bids stating the amount it would accept for voluntarily relinquishing some or all of its broadcast television spectrum usage rights. (31) State The term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning given such term in section 153 of this title. (32) Ultra high frequency The term ‘‘ultra high frequency’’ means, with respect to a television channel, that the channel is located in the portion of the elec- tromagnetic spectrum between the frequencies from 470 megahertz to 698 megahertz. (33) Very high frequency The term ‘‘very high frequency’’ means, with respect to a television channel, that the chan- nel is located in the portion of the electro- magnetic spectrum between the frequencies from 54 megahertz to 72 megahertz, from 76 megahertz to 88 megahertz, or from 174 mega- hertz to 216 megahertz. (Pub. L. 112–96, title VI, § 6001, Feb. 22, 2012, 126 Stat. 201.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT Section 6402, referred to in par. (17), is section 6402 of Pub. L. 112–96, which amended section 309 of this title. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries SHORT TITLE Pub. L. 112–96, title VI, § 6501, Feb. 22, 2012, 126 Stat. 237, provided that: ‘‘This subtitle [subtitle E (§§ 6501–6509) of title VI of Pub. L. 112–96, enacting sec- tions 1471 to 1473 of this title and amending section 942 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Next Generation 9–1–1 Advancement Act of 2012’.’’ § 1402. Rule of construction Each range of frequencies described in this chapter shall be construed to be inclusive of the upper and lower frequencies in the range. (Pub. L. 112–96, title VI, § 6002, Feb. 22, 2012, 126 Stat. 204.) § 1403. Enforcement (a) In general The Commission shall implement and enforce this chapter as if this chapter is a part of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). A violation of this chapter, or a regulation promulgated under this chapter, shall be consid- ered to be a violation of the Communications Act of 1934, or a regulation promulgated under such Act, respectively. (b) Exceptions (1) Other agencies Subsection (a) does not apply in the case of a provision of this chapter that is expressly re- quired to be carried out by an agency (as de- fined in section 551 of title 5) other than the Commission. (2) NTIA regulations The Assistant Secretary may promulgate such regulations as are necessary to imple- ment and enforce any provision of this chapter that is expressly required to be carried out by the Assistant Secretary. (Pub. L. 112–96, title VI, § 6003, Feb. 22, 2012, 126 Stat. 204.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT The Communications Act of 1934, referred to in sub- sec. (a), is act June 19, 1934, ch. 652, 48 Stat. 1064, which