Federal Shutdown Hampered US Preparation for Upcoming WRC-19

A major Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM) for the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference ended Thursday (see 1902280070). Reports out of Geneva are the U.S. is struggling to find its way, industry and government officials said. The U.S. had planned to accredit its delegation, but the partial federal government shutdown made that impossible, industry officials said.

“Lack of an accredited delegation and proper head” for the U.S. was “extraordinary” and there was “constant uncertainty on U.S. positions and enforcement of delegation rules,” said an industry official on the delegation. A second delegate said the U.S. managed to submit contributions despite lack of clear leadership. The prep meetings always tend to be contentious, officials said.

WRC-19 “ will determine so much about the future of wireless communications,” FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel told us. “But the U.S. is not heading into this meeting with clear 5G proposals. That boggles the mind, because it means we are allowing other countries to take the lead in treaty discussions that will set the future course of spectrum policy.”

“We may look back at our missed opportunity at the CPM as one of the biggest costs of that record-breaking shutdown,” said Tom Struble, R Street Institute technology policy manager. “Diplomatic culture is heavily steeped in protocol,” said a former FCC official with carrier clients: “Having the largest and most powerful country in the world, which is also a thought leader on international spectrum issues, not officially represented at key intergovernmental events is not helpful to American spectrum advocacy.”

With WRC-19 later this year in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, U.S. preparation was slowed by the Dec. 22-Jan. 25 shutdown (see 1901180027). WRC-19 is viewed as potentially the most important WRC ever because of its focus on harmonizing bands for 5G (see 1803090032).

“My sense was that in many issues, things are being pushed to WRC for decision rather than engaging in the big fights at CPM,” said an industry official who attended parts of the CPM but wasn’t on the delegation.

Grace Koh, expected to be named ambassador to the next WRC, hasn’t been designated to head the delegation. She is expected to start work at the State Department this week. By this point for recent WRCs, the delegation head has at least been identified and able to play a role at the CPM (see 1803090032). Robert Strayer, State Department deputy assistant secretary-cyber and international communications and information policy, also wasn’t at the meeting.

Koh "will be able to make up for lost ground quickly once she is officially ensconced in her new role,” said Robert McDowell of Cooley.

FCC Prep Consternation

Questions are arising over preparatory documents released by the FCC Jan. 23 during its shuttering. That caused some consternation in the satellite industry.

Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) prep occurred and the U.S. wasn't able to go in with coordinated positions on all aspects of all agenda items, said industry and government officials. During the furlough, a purported U.S. position was posted on the FCC website on agenda item 1.13, a key WRC item looking at high-band spectrum for 5G. The documents were posted ex post facto to the CITEL meeting.

“It is deeply troubling if the administration is not all on the same page leading up to the WRC,” emailed Doug Brake, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation director-broadband and spectrum policy. “The United States is out in front of other countries with mmWave in several ways, including the FCC's leadership on auctioning this high-band spectrum, industry's interest in putting this spectrum to use. … A bad outcome at WRC has serious potential to undermine this U.S. leadership in high-frequency communications.”

The FCC, NTIA and the State Department didn't comment Friday.

Satellite Concern

There's satellite industry confusion about how this FCC document-release occurred, particularly since it wasn't apparently presented at the CITEL meeting and somehow came about during the shutdown, industry officials said. The Satellite Industry Association declined to comment.

Early 5G standards are finalized and work on future standards is underway, “so WRC-19 will likely not have much impact on that,” Struble said. But 6G is another issue, he said. “If the future spectrum bands identified for use in 6G at WRC 19 are ones that are currently available in the U.S., but encumbered in other countries, that gives the U.S. a leg up in deploying new technologies to access those bands,” Struble said. If WRC-19 picks 6G spectrum bands currently available in China but not in the U.S. “that gives an advantage to Chinese firms over American firms, as we will have to first clear incumbents and reallocate those bands before they can be used,” he said.

The WRC also has implications for closing the digital divide since the best choice in parts of America may be non-geostationary, low earth orbit satellite networks, Struble said. “Existing satellite networks and new startups, including firms like SpaceX and OneWeb, are all either exploring or actively deploying these technologies, so WRC 19 presents another opportunity for the U.S. to guide international telecom standards to support American interests. If the orbital standards for LEO networks are aligned with the experimental licenses the FCC has already granted, that gives those early movers a leg up. If not, those firms will have to incur additional costs to conform their operations to the new orbital standards.”

Free State Foundation President Randolph May noted that “key people, with the requisite expertise, have been engaged in the preparations on behalf of the U.S." FCC Chairman Ajit Pai “has been actively engaged, which, of course is important. So, at this point, I’m not really worried, but that could change if a delegation head is not in place in a few months.” May said.