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III. REGULATORY FRAMEWORK • This section will discuss the regulatory framework for wireless communications facilities at the federal, state, and local levels. Federal Level Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent federal regulatory agency which is responsible directly to Congress. Established by the Communications Act of 1934, it is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. Its jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions. The general objectives of federal telecommunications regulations are to provide efficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is considered a public resource; to develop a domestic telecommunications infrastructure able to provide service on the national level, as well as compete on a global level; and especially in recent years, to provide a highly competitive economic market which spurs technological advances in the telecommunications industry. The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) handles all FCC domestic wireless telecommunications programs and policies, except those involving satellite communications. Wireless communications services include cellular telephone, paging, personal communications • services, public safety, and other commercial and private radio services. The WTB regulates wireless telecommunications providers and licenses. The Bureau also serves as the Commission's principal policy and administrative resource with regard to federal auctions for the private use of the public air waves. The WTB regulates the three primary wireless communications services which are the subject of this issues paper. cellular, ESMR, and PCS. Portions of the frequency spectrum are allocated to specific uses (such as TV broadcast band, cellular, etc.), and specific frequencies within that part of the spectrum are assigned to licensed operators. These procedures are intended to prevent interference or conflicts among various operators or services at a given location attempting to use the same portion of the frequency spectrum. Licenses One of the functions of the FCC is to issue licenses to wireless communications carriers. The FCC issues licenses for certain frequency bands of the electromagnetic spectrum and effectively limits the number of wireless communications providers in a specific geographic service area. Appendix 3 contains detailed information on the issuance of licenses for the three technologies covered in this report. • 21