SHAYS PLEDGES SUPPORT TO ‘STRAIGHTEN OUT’ SPECTRUM POLICY DEBATE
House Govt. Reform National Security Subcommittee Chmn. Shays (R-Conn.) told govt. and military representatives at hearing Tues. that his panel “will do whatever it has to do to straighten out” public and private sector differences over spectrum allocation policy. Most testimony from first panel of military officers reiterated necessity of prioritizing Dept. of Defense (DoD) spectrum needs, while pledging to keep in mind needs of industry in deploying 3rd generation (3G) wireless services. Second panel, which included FCC and NTIA officials, said progress was being made in developing national spectrum policy, evidenced by increased interagency dialogue to address growing need for spectrum in public safety and commercial 3G arenas.
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Julius Knapp, FCC Deputy Office of Engineering & Technology Policy Deputy Chief, said agency’s Spectrum Policy Task Force is developing an integrated plan for spectrum policy. He said Commission “is struggling to keep pace with market innovations,” but is developing recommendations to promote spectral efficiency and more clearly define spectrum interference and usage rights: “Chairman Powell has observed that the Commission’s current ‘command and control’ approach to spectrum allocations may be too reactive for the current, Internet-speed market, and that spectrum allocation decisions do not effectively push spectrum to its highest and most efficient use. Indeed, the market, and not the spectrum allocation process, needs to be the principal determinant in the success or failure of a new technology or service.”
Deputy Asst. Commerce Secy. Michael Gallagher said NTIA and other entities have been collaborating to find spectrum for 3G, and expect to release viability assessments later this spring: “Since 2000, NTIA, FCC and other federal agencies have been working cooperatively to take certain actions to identify spectrum for 3G services. After an extensive public outreach and work with industry and affected agencies on technical analyses of the various band options, NTIA and the federal agencies are now focusing specifically on the 1710-1770 MHz band, while the FCC is focusing on the 2110-2170 MHz band.”
Although Shays and Rep. Gilman (R-N.Y.) -- only committee members attending hearing -- acknowledged growing spectrum needs of military, they questioned Pentagon officials whether DoD used spectrum efficiently. Gilman pressed panelists to explain whether development of national and military spectrum plans is progressing, while Shays repeatedly reminded them to avoid focusing on importance of uninterrupted DoD communications. Shays said there was no doubt DoD faced challenges in domestic and global spectrum allocation for training and battlefield purposes. Following testimony from first of 2 panels, he said state of affairs of how DoD is assessing future spectrum requirements remains unclear: “Is it too late? Have we blown it? Or if we manage what we have, will we be okay?”
High-ranking officers from Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps each said their department was paying more attention to spectrum assessment issue than ever before. Deputy Asst. Secy. for Spectrum Steven Price said DoD in past didn’t place such responsibilities in hands of executive- level defense personnel, “but that’s changed over the past 5 to 10 years.” More recently, DoD’s Office of Spectrum Management is being transformed into new Defense Spectrum Office, which will have greater resources “and allow the Department to have much more proactive rather than reactive processes.”
Navy Vice Admiral Richard Mayo said DoD was devising projections for wireless bandwidth needs over next 15 years. Projections will emphasize satellite-related spectrum needs, he said. Draft report on this issue is expected to be finished within in 90 days, Mayo said. He said current communications satellite capacity is being met only because DoD supplements military satellite capacity by leasing transponders on commercial satellites: “We are dependent quite heavily on the private sector.” He said it was uncertain whether future capacity needs will be met.