Two Bands Targeted by NTIA for Quick Use for Wireless Broadband
NTIA is recommending reallocating 115 MHz of spectrum in two bands for mobile broadband over the next five years as part of its plan for making 500 MHz of spectrum available for broadband over the next 10 years, NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said Thursday. Only 15 MHz of the spectrum recommended by the agency is below 2.5 GHz, the spectrum most sought by carriers.
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NTIA sent a report to the White House on Oct. 1, as required by a June executive memorandum by President Barack Obama. The report hasn’t been released. Strickling unveiled a key recommendation Thursday at an FCBA luncheon, as the FCC held a spectrum summit across town. (See separate story in this issue.) The full report should be available soon, he said.
The report recommends the reallocation for broadband of 1695-1710 MHz -- part of the 1675-1710 MHz band which provides weather satellite downlinks, Strickling said. The spectrum could be paired with the AWS-3 band, an offering that could be attractive to carriers seeking to beef up their spectrum portfolios. The report also recommends reallocation of 3550-3650 MHz, part of a military radar band serving high-power air- and ship-borne radar systems.
NTIA is also recommending quick action on 40 MHz on the edges of the 4200-4400 band, though the U.S. would have to work through the World Radiocommunications Conference process and that’s unlikely before 2016, the conference after an impending one, Strickling said. “You have to start working now in order to get on that agenda,” he said. “Because of the long lead time to get items on the agenda of the WRC, we will initiate the necessary legal actions while we complete our technical analysis."
Left off the list is the 1755-1780 MHz band, which carriers have pushed for pairing with AWS 3 spectrum. Strickling said in speeches over the summer that the band would be looked at more closely, but not as spectrum that could be made available through a “fast-track” process. Industry sources said after the speech it’s not clear how much interest there will be in the 3.5 GHz spectrum.
"I don’t know what industry expected,” Strickling said after his speech at an FCBA lunch. “I absolutely heard that industry is interested in 1755, and it is a band we are going to complete an analysis on as quickly as we can.”
Strickling said “hopefully” carriers “see opportunities” in the bands announced Thursday. “I think that we all understand that the 3500 band is probably not something that industry is going to use right away,” he said. “It’s important to identify it, set it aside, put it in the bank, so that the technology can start to evolve to using that band.” He noted that in Europe the band is already being used some for WiMAX.
"While 115 MHz sounds like a big number, the lion’s share of that spectrum lies above 3500 MHz, which we know is not prime real estate in today’s wireless marketplace,” Strickling said during his speech. He said that “in just a few months, we've gotten off to a good start.”
NTIA will emphasize the importance of sharing spectrum, Strickling said. “The days of being able to clear big blocks of spectrum and auction them off for future use are becoming few and far between,” he said. “That’s really the challenge.”