Deployment of 5G, Broadband in Rural Areas Are Top Priorities at NTIA, Redl Says
LAS VEGAS -- The move to 5G is a top priority for NTIA, said Administrator David Redl in remarks Tuesday at CES, one of his first major policy addresses since he took the job late last year. “We must do everything we can this year and beyond to accelerate America’s 5G leadership,” Redl said. “CES is a great showcase of how high-speed connectivity has driven economic growth and innovation in this country and around the world.”
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The agency is looking at bands that can be used for 5G and supporting national and international efforts to harmonize spectrum bands and set technology standards, plus addressing infrastructure deployment issues, said its head. “NTIA has been very successful leveraging the existing interagency processes to assess which bands can be opened up from the millimeter-wave range all the way down to the lower [bands].”
NTIA is working with the FCC on an approach for sharing in the 37 GHz band, Redl said. “We’re optimistic that if we can get this right, it could serve as a model to inform how we might do sharing in the other millimeter-wave bands.” The Spectrum Act requires NTIA to identify for auction 30 MHz of spectrum by 2022 and another 100 MHz beyond that, he noted. Part of that effort is evaluating plans from government agencies for combining operations to use spectrum more efficiently, he said. Two plans already have been approved -- one for 1300-1350 MHz and one for 1675-1680 MHz, Redl said: “Additional pipeline plans are under review or being prepared.”
International harmonization of spectrum is also important, Redl said, noting the World Radiocommunication Conference will meet next year in Geneva. “WRC-19 will tee up agenda items addressing harmonization of spectrum for [advanced wireless services] in the millimeter wave bands as well as cooperation of unlicensed local area networks -- think Wi-Fi -- in the 5 GHz band.” Another focus will be facilitating a global ecosystem for 5G services, he said. “NTIA is working now to ensure that the outcomes support the U.S. industry’s 5G development plan.”
Redl said his agency also is focused on getting broadband to areas of the U.S. that remain unserved or underserved. “We need to do everything we can to encourage infrastructure development,” he said. “Congress and the executive branch can work with industry to look at how federal action might address the patchwork of permitting, siting and other infrastructure provisions in order to streamline or eliminate rules that pose unnecessary barriers to deployment.” The federal government also can reduce barriers on public lands and in government-owned buildings, he said: The executive order and presidential memorandum that President Donald Trump signed Monday (see 1801080063) is just the beginning.
Another NTIA focus will be making sure connected technologies are “sustainable, secure and resilient,” Redl said. “Cyberattacks and vulnerabilities in our critical infrastructure threaten to undermine the great progress that we have made and that we will make.” Cybersecurity will remain a top NTIA focus while he's administrator, he said: “There’s much more to come on cybersecurity from the administration. There is an urgency to deal with these problems.”
The U.S. “must show leadership” in making sure the internet remains open, Redl said. “It’s imperative, more than ever, that we fight for an internet that’s open, interoperable and governed globally by all the stakeholders through multistakeholders processes.”
Redl said the U.S. strongly supports the candidacy of Doreen Bogdan-Martin for a top leadership role at ITU. Bogdan-Martin, an ITU official from the U.S., is campaigning to head Telecommunications Development, one of the three ITU sectors (see 1710230052). Redl said she has an impressive background and noted she formerly worked for NTIA. “ITU needs to be modernized and become a 21st century institution,” he said.