NTIA 'Unable to Recommend' Ligado; Some See Agency Conflict
NTIA's letter to the FCC on Ligado's planned broadband terrestrial low-power service seems to point to no consensus among the federal agencies, we were told. Ligado's requested license modifications are back in FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's lap. The letter seemingly ends consideration by the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (see 1910300050).
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The decision is now the FCC's to make, experts said Monday. The FCC and NTIA didn't comment.
Some expect Pai to move forward on the Ligado's requested license modification applications. Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld said it's tough to anticipate timing. But spectrum and satellite consultant Tim Farrar deemed it unlikely Pai continues with the draft order as written. He said the agency is more likely to modify it, deny Ligado's application outright or back burner the matter.
NTIA is "unable to recommend [FCC] approval of the Ligado applications," the agency told Pai in a docket 11-109 letter posted Friday evening. NTIA said Ligado painted its plans as important to 5G deployment in the U.S., but NTIA and the FCC "are in the midst of tremendous success" in freeing up spectrum for 5G so not adding Ligado's 40 MHz to the mix "will not hold back the timely deployment of 5G across the United States." NTIA also cited a December 2018 letter from the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing. There, DOD, NASA, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and departments of Transportation, Agriculture, Commerce, Homeland Security, Interior and State said Ligado's proposed service would exceed power limits needed to prevent GPS receiver disruption. They said NTIA should recommend against approval.
A former NTIA official deemed the "unable to recommend" language a more roundabout than saying the agency disapproves of the Ligado plans. It could be read as actively against the plans by also indicating the U.S. has plenty of other spectrum being made available for 5G.
Rather than having an internal process in which agencies through NTIA come to agreement, it appears the White House has every agency advocating its own policy without coherence and the letter seems to indicate lack of consensus, Feld said. "This is the most discordant I have ever seen it."
"NTIA is basically saying 'this is on DoD' " by attaching the November letter from Defense Secretary Mark Esper (see 1911210055), which gives the FCC some wiggle room, said Farrar. It would be tough for Pai to ignore DOD's strong opposition, the expert said. "It would be easy for any opponent to paint him as ignoring national security concerns if he approved Ligado."
A lawyer representing a party with an interest in this proceeding said Pai might not modify the draft order because the NTIA letter didn't introduce any new evidence or analysis that would be basis for a change.
Claiming the U.S. has enough spectrum available for 5G is "stunning and absurd," Ligado said Monday. It said the one useful thing is the letter lets the FCC "finally moved forward and rule" on the pending applications. It said the NTIA letter doesn't state GPS would be hurt by Ligado, just some federal agencies have concerns. It said there's no proof there would be any such harm. NTIA doesn't endorse use of a 1 dB noise floor metric for GPS adjacent band interference protection, as DOD recommended. "Bring an end to the irregular and unreasonable delay caused by some Executive Branch entities that has plagued" this and other FCC spectrum initiatives, Ligado said.
Ligado allies discounted NTIA's request.
While the agency said it's unable to recommend, it doesn't recommend dismissing the proceeding, and its statement that not having access to midband spectrum won't hold back timely 5G deployment "is plainly wrong," said Competitive Carriers Association CEO Steven Berry in a statement. The U.S. "is in real need of critical mid-band spectrum" for 5G, and use of lower midband spectrum like the L band is particularly needed for rural areas, he said. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said the letter "appears to lack new substance responsive to the numerous steps Ligado has taken to protect adjacent GPS services." This could "set a dangerous precedent of defining harmful interference with the absurd 1 dB standard, which would have disastrous implications for current and future spectrum bands," it said.
Wireless Infrastructure Association CEO Jonathan Adelstein said Ligado already addressed NTIA's concerns "and there does not seem to be any need to slow this process down or make it even more difficult to repurpose any spectrum for commercial next-gen wireless systems." WIA said the FCC should move on any draft order.
Pai's is in a tough spot as the FCC sees a clear imperative to move forward aggressively on promoting 5G, Feld said. Meanwhile, the commission isn't getting help from further discussions with other agencies, since all it's gotten back so far "is a repeat of everything they ever heard" instead of suggested tweaks to the draft Ligado order or recommendations for new testing, he said. "There's no reason to believe it's going to get any easier."