Focus on Bidirectional Sharing Gaining Steam Under Trump Administration

NTIA Administrator David Redl has repeatedly discussed bilateral sharing, including at a Telecommunications Industry Association event last week (see 1806210061). The Mobile Now Act, rolled into the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill (HR-1625) enacted in March (see 1803230038), requires the FCC, in consultation with NTIA, to give Congress a report on bidirectional sharing by September 2019.

The last spectrum frontiers Further NPRM, approved by commissioners in June (see 1806070009), also includes bidirectional sharing language. A section on the 42 GHz band, a nonfederal band, asks about a framework for sharing between federal and commercial users. The FCC also explores bidirectional sharing in a section on the lower 600 MHz of the 37 GHz band. The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee took a long look at bidirectional sharing during the Obama years (see 1509010059).

Now, the push is seen gaining steam under President Donald Trump. NTIA and the FCC didn't comment.

Bidirectional sharing is important, said Jennifer Warren, Lockheed Martin vice president-technology policy and regulation. At some remote bases, DOD could potentially “use all the spectrum that’s there, even if it’s licensed to AT&T,” Warren told the TIA event. “I didn’t say where there are people living -- the test and training installations.”

Carl Povelites, AT&T assistant vice president-public policy, mobility, disagreed. AT&T spent more than $18 billion on AWS-3 licenses, he said. “A number of our licenses do encompass federal property, including DOD bases, and it’s our opinion that the license we obtained includes the ground” containing bases, he said. “It’s not just a random person walking across a base, it’s the civilians that may live on base, it’s the service members who live on base,” Povelites said.

The wireless industry is seeking “innovative ways to work with our federal partners, and we look forward to fleshing out the idea of bidirectional sharing,” Tom Power, CTIA general counsel, told us. “The most efficient way for federal agencies to share commercial spectrum is for the government to negotiate directly with carriers. Making future spectrum auctions contingent on a generic sharing obligation would depress auction revenue while not necessarily providing the government what it needs.”

“This is certainly consistent with the Trump administration emphasis on national security and the enhanced influence of DOD, and military contractors, on spectrum policy in this administration,” said Harold Feld, Public Knowledge senior vice president. “Bidirectional sharing has been a perennial topic of discussion among spectrum policy folks for years. But during the Obama administration, it took a back seat to finding spectrum for commercial use.” Now, Republicans are no longer focused on deficit reduction, Feld said: “If deficits don't matter, we don't need auctions.” There has been a shift away from the FCC “as the locus of communications policy generally and spectrum policy specifically to NTIA and the federal government,” he said. “Since Republicans hate the FCC, even when they control it, other agencies are going to have more pull in spectrum policy.”

Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, said he was on the CSMAC subcommittee that looked at bidirectional sharing and drew no firm conclusions. Warren and Povelites are also longtime CSMAC members. “Military or other federal use of licensed bands should be easy on a use-it-or-share-it basis, where federal operations could use licensed spectrum on a temporary or contingent basis in remote or any other area where commercial users have not deployed,” Calabrese said. “The harder case is a scenario where the military wants to acquire rights longer term, and not vacate if the private licensee builds out. The need to fit in more and more users suggests that DOD should lead the way in adopting frequency-agile systems that can both share and move as necessary.”

Redl noted different bands present different issues. NTIA hopes technologies developed through the 3.5 GHz sharing process “will provide options,” he said. “While we’re excited about having this additional tool in the proverbial toolbox, it is not a turnkey approach that simply can be applied across a wide array of bands without specific study of each band.”

It seems the government has seized on ‘bidirectional’ as the watchword for opening up access to federal spectrum,” said Doug Brake, director-spectrum policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. “I’m not sure that there isn’t a bigger upside in changing budgetary constraints that would allow agencies to procure upgraded radio tools as a service, but progress is still possible on the sharing front. I think key to moving forward is identifying a band to prove out the concept.”