Federal Spectrum Policy, More DOD Sharing Seen Coming
The U.S. is moving toward creation of a national spectrum strategy that would predict spectrum trends and allow companies to do a better job of planning, said DOD spectrum chief Fred Moorefield at the National Spectrum Management Association annual conference Tuesday. “I think you'll see that coming out of the White House soon." He noted the Pentagon will update its own spectrum road map and action plan.
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“Spectrum sharing is hard [but] a necessary thing,” said Moorefield. “We’re running out of low-hanging fruit” for repurposed spectrum," though there’s a longer runway of sharing opportunities, Moorefield said. He said DOD is all for spectrum sharing “when and where it makes sense," but a proprietary mindset and resistance to sharing is common among many. Citing IoT, 5G and satellite mega constellations putting increased pressure on access, Moorefield said sharing "has to be everybody." He said big exclusion zones will go away since DOD also wants to access commercial services like 5G.
For the first time, DOD is going to implement dynamic spectrum access for the 1780-1850 MHz band, Moorefield said. He said the military, starting later this year, will study opening up the 3450-3550 MHz band to sharing, and study the 1300-1350 MHz band and opportunities for relocating some long-range radars to other spectrum and opening up that band, Moorefield said.
Some type of commercial citizens broadband radio service should roll out before year's end in the form of commercial general authorized access offerings, Google Spectrum Engineering Lead Andrew Clegg said. He said a commercial CBRS rollout still requires device certification, which should happen this summer, and spectrum access system certification, which is to be done by November. He said environmental sensing capability (ESC) certification likely will happen at the same time. He said the first ESC networks likely will be deployed late this year, heading into 2019, and a priority access license (PAL) auction is likely sometime next year.
Given the inherent complexity of a 3.5 GHz auction, with hundreds of thousands of licenses up for sale, a PAL auction "may be a bit of a ways off,” late 2019 at the earliest, said Jeffrey Marks, Nokia senior counsel-policy and regulatory. With the FCC having laid out plans for 28 and 24 GHz auctions, the 37-40 GHz bands are likely the next ones for auction, though some issues with incumbent license holders need to be reconciled, Marks said.
The U.S. leads the world in the 600 MHz and millimeter wave spectrum availability, but is falling behind China, Japan and South Korea in midband spectrum, Marks said. “Some countries are being far more aggressive” and issuing wide swaths of midband spectrum and looking at 100 to 200 MHz per licensee, whereas the U.S. is looking in the 3.5 GHz range on a shared basis, he said. There's industry interest in other midband blocks, like 1300-1350 MHz, used largely for air traffic control, but commercial access there is unlikely in the near term, Marks said. He said the FCC should put out an aspirational timeline for spectrum availability to help the industry plan “so we can all be ready to deploy on a timeline."
The TV incentive auction “worked,” said FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp. It was one of the FCC's most-complicated undertakings ever and could be a tool for others for repurposing spectrum where incumbents are seeking compensation for their past investments and when it’s unclear how much spectrum might become available, Knapp said. He said a clearer picture of what the broadcast industry looks like will emerge after the post-incentive auction special displacement window closes June 1.
Knapp said the Communications Act Section 7 NPRM adopted in February (see 1802220045) is aimed at ensuring that when a new technology or service is proposed “it won’t sit on the shelf,” and action of some sort will be taken within a year. He said that since OET implemented its program licenses experimental license program in April 2017 (see 1704140053), more than 60 have been issued.
International Bureau Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque said an order stemming from last year's earth stations in motion NPRM (see 1705180042) will come “very soon." Asked about unauthorized satellites launched by Swarm Technology (see 1804130010), he said they weren't turned on and "actions .... are under consideration." An IB inquiry was referred to the Enforcement Bureau (see 1805030034).
C-band sharing between satellite and terrestrial use needs extensive study first because satellite signals are far fainter than terrestrial ones and interference can come from hundreds of kilometers away, said Satellite Industry Association Senior Policy Director Therese Jones. She said there's no industry consensus on C-band sharing, with Telesat opposed to an SES/Intelsat/Intel proposal for allocating 100 MHz of spectrum to terrestrial mobile (see 1805040019) and any action needs to ensure compliance with U.S. treaties to prevent interference to foreign satellites. She said the C-band uplink spectrum -- 6.425-7.125 GHz -- is more promising for sharing if effectively managed. She said the U.S. position at World Radiocommunication Conferences has favored terrestrial interests, with other nations being more protective of satellite spectrum, so SIA has been contacting other countries in advance of WRC-19.