Industry Leaders Seek Long-Term National Spectrum Policy as Administration Readies Plan

“It’s great news to see the administration pushing forward on spectrum,” Carr told us. “They’ve been working on it for a while.” The administration needs to make sure “we have the spectrum that we need, the oxygen we need for 5G,” he said. Carr said he hadn’t seen the details, but the U.S. faces a tough fight to keep up with China to lead on 5G.

Not all were pleased, though industry cheered.

“We are ripping up what came before and starting with a new wireless policy sometime late next year,” said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. “Other nations are moving ahead with strategies they are implementing now while we’re headed to study hall and in the interim we’re slapping big tariffs on the most essential elements of 5G networks.”

For carriers, “the spectrum position is kind of hand to mouth,” said T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray at the conference. “It is in stark contrast to China and South Korea. They’ve been very focused on laying the table for a 5G future.” The U.S. needs a “long-term vision for spectrum needs and we don’t have it yet for 5G,” he said. “We need to be thinking about hundreds more megahertz of spectrum that can be freed up.”

U.S. carriers have particular need for mid-band spectrum, Ray said. “We almost waited until this next big wave, this tsunami, is hitting us on 5G before we get ourselves organized,” he said. “We have to be more organized.” The administration work so far is “just a start,” he said. “What is our five- and 10-year plan?” The new 5G world will require lots more spectrum, Ray said. “That’s the physics.”

The memo is another indication the Trump administration is distancing itself from a leaked National Security Council draft memo that proposed 5G nationalization (see 1801290034), said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Spectrum Policy Director Doug Brake and others. The White House is “making clear that its stance is to support the private sector in developing 5G,” with encouraging further spectrum availability as one component, Brake said.

“This is a show of force from the Trump administration” against the NSC’s nationalization draft, a logical next step after the White House’s September 5G summit (see 1809280054), a tech lobbyist said.

Spectrum Sought

The fight to stay No. 1 is “very real situation,” said Paul Greendyk, AT&T vice president-mobile core and network services. China has made “a lot of spectrum available … and their companies didn’t have to pay billions and billions of dollars,” he said. “We need more spectrum and we need it fast.” Infrastructure, especially siting small cells, is also important to 5G, he said.

Carriers need government to open up new bands at reasonable prices, Greendyk said. “If you don’t have anything laying fallow you can build something new on … you have less agility to build new stuff,” he said. “Our customers keep demanding more data. We all do.”

To get to 5G will require network densification, which will require streamlined siting, and more spectrum, said Chris Pearson, president of 5G Americas. “It’s as if the Asia-Pacific region has been listening to 5G America’s speeches,” he said. “They’re continuing to make network densification easy and they’re bringing out a lot of spectrum." Governments in that region look at 5G “as a national priority,” not a technological priority, he said.

Capitol Hill

Leaders of the Senate and House Commerce committees lauded the Trump administration action. “The advent of 5G wireless technologies means higher speeds and greater connectivity and convenience for all Americans, but will only be possible with the effective and efficient management of spectrum,” said House Commerce Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

A “strategy to make more federal spectrum available is critical to winning the race to 5G” and is a natural action given enactment of the Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless (Mobile Now) Act law and the FCC’s mid-band spectrum work, a Senate Commerce spokesman said. Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., “stands ready to work with the Department of Commerce on efforts to make the federal government a more efficient user of scarce and valuable" bands.

The coming spectrum strategy could be useful to Congress as it evaluates legislation like the Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum Act (HR-4953/S-1682), said Brake and others. The directive for federal agencies to clarify spectrum needs “could be extremely beneficial” to Congress, but “a lot depends on what the different agencies report,” Brake said.

The extent to which the spectrum strategy influences Capitol Hill also depends on the outcome of the November elections, communications sector lobbyists said. A potential majority-Democratic House may give less weight to the Trump administration’s findings than would a majority-GOP House, one lobbyist said. Regardless, the memo reinforces to lawmakers that the White House views 5G and improving spectrum availability as a priority, another lobbyist said.

Agencies

During a call with reporters, administration officials stressed the importance of 5G to jobs and the economy. “The coming 5G networks will bring enormous benefits to our economy," said Michael Kratsios, deputy assistant to the president-technology policy at the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Wireless is also important to national defense, he said.

The Trump administration has prioritized wireless technology since taking office, Kratsios said. “This presidential memo makes it clear that America intends to remain the leader in next-generation wireless networks,” he said. The policy will continue to emphasize sharing, an administration official told reporters, speaking on condition of not being identified.

“With smart planning and whole of government collaboration as bedrock principles, the strategy will lay the groundwork for future development, moving the U.S. forward in advanced wireless communications, space commerce, and emerging technologies we are only beginning to imagine,” NTIA Administrator David Redl blogged. “We are committed to ensuring America is a pioneering leader in the development of 5G and the communications technologies of tomorrow.”

In remarks to the India Mobile Congress in New Delhi, Chairman Ajit Pai highlighted FCC work on spectrum. The upcoming 28 and 24 GHz auctions, plus another for 37 GHz, 39 GHz and 47 GHz in the second half of 2019 "will release almost 5 gigahertz of 5G spectrum into the market,” more than what's held by all U.S. carriers combined, he said.

“With the right approach based on licensed wireless spectrum, America’s wireless carriers will invest hundreds of billions of dollars,” said CTIA President Meredith Baker. “Effective and efficient use of spectrum is essential to help meet the ever-growing consumer demand for data, secure the United States as a global technology leader, and help achieve the important goal of bridging the digital divide between rural and urban areas,” said Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry. Others like WiFiForward also cheered.

5G Americas Notebook

During a keynote, Carr emphasized San Jose, California, is just starting to permit the first small cells, at a slower pace than in many other communities (see 1810220030). San Jose “was very happy to report” they will “very soon” finalize the process for reviewing applications, he said. “Carriers have been trying to deploy in San Jose for two to three years,” he said. “They’re almost ready to approve the first one.” Rosenworcel and local governments touted San Jose’s public-private partnerships with AT&T, Verizon and Mobilitie as a model that could be applied nationally, without the need for pre-emption. “Policies make a big differences,” Carr told us. “San Jose is the capital of Silicon Valley. They have so many advantages compared to a lot of other cities.” Hundreds of small cells, meanwhile, “are going in in a lot of other communities” first, he said. “We are well underway with small-cell deployments and accelerating rapidly and will likely be one of the first places to deploy 5G at scale,” said Kip Harkness, San Jose deputy city manager, responding to Carr. On 4G, “the U.S. government didn’t build that, you did, the private sector,” Carr said. “Being first matters. It’s going to matter even more so for 5G.” China views the transition to 5G as “a chance to flip the script,” Carr said. “They want to be the economic and technological leader in the next decade.”

This is an important time for the wireless industry, T-Mobile's Ray said in a keynote. “It’s not every year where we’re talking about next major revolution in technology,” he said. “I’ve been around for 1, 2, 3 and 4G and I think I’ve got another G in me.” The U.S. wireless industry has done a good job on deploying LTE and on innovation, he said. “So much has happened in 10 years,” he said. “With 5G, I think we can blow the doors off and the opportunity is so much greater than anything we have done.” Ray said 5G “won’t be everywhere” in the next two years, “but it’s coming.”