NTIA Committee Examines Major Structural Changes for Federal Spectrum Oversight
The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee is looking at some radical possibilities for future spectrum regulation, including creating a new spectrum agency. The FCC and NTIA would lose oversight under two of the proposals being considered by CSMAC’s Spectrum Strategy Governance Subcommittee.
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Other possibilities include shifting more control of spectrum decisions to either just the FCC or the NTIA. The subcommittee will have more to say when it presents at a CSMAC meeting Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Trump administration hasn’t released its long-term National Spectrum Strategy, which was due July 22 (see 1907310033). The meeting comes during upheaval at NTIA. Former acting Administrator Diane Rinaldo left NTIA in December (see 1912230065), just seven months after David Redl's abrupt exit (see 1912160049).
A wide variety of options is on the table, said a CSMAC member who participated in the report preparation: “The initial discussions have been a brainstorm about a wide range of possible mechanisms to improve the coherence and coordination of spectrum allocation decisions as we move into an era of far more intense band sharing among federal and nonfederal users.”
“NTIA places a high value on the advisory committee’s perspective on spectrum management and policy,” an NTIA spokesperson emailed: “We look forward to updates on this work as the committee submits ideas on how best we can advance balanced, forward-looking, flexible, and sustainable approaches to spectrum management.”
Early indications are CSMAC could face pushback if it proposes major structural change. Meanwhile, intra-agency disagreements on spectrum accelerate (see 2001060013).
“What’s important right now is moving quickly to make more mid-band spectrum available,” said Tom Power, CTIA general counsel: “The system to do that is in place today.”
“If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” said Fred Campbell, former FCC Wireless Bureau chief. “The U.S. has led the wireless revolution under the current system of bifurcated responsibility,” Campbell told us: “This bifurcation yields interagency disputes on occasion, but healthy debate is a feature of governance in the U.S., not a bug. The committee would need to present compelling evidence to justify a radical change now.”
“The relevant issues would not be addressed if the proposal is to just move the regulatory chairs around on the deck,” said DS Law’s David Siddall, a former FCC spectrum policy chief: “There would remain the same conflicting claims and priorities between federal and nonfederal users. There are legitimate concerns on both sides that need to be worked out in a cooperative manner regardless of the governmental means for doing so.” Attention to improving new technologies “is more likely to result in better spectrum usage than shuffling regulatory responsibilities,” Siddall told us.
“Every few years there are proposals to dramatically modify NTIA, the FCC or both,” said Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge and former CSMAC member. The proposals rarely go anywhere since “the current structure represents a balance of interests that are supposed to find ways to work together,” Feld said. “This is certainly frustrating to everyone involved,” he said: “But trying to shortcut the process of finding a workable compromise among stakeholders by setting a new structure to advantage one side or another is not going to produce better policy.”
International Center for Law & Economics Associate Director Kristian Stout doubts the current agencies will lose control of spectrum. “It seems much more plausible that Congress could shift power more to one agency or another, but even there I’m doubtful that it will do much to upset the current balance of regulatory power,” Stout said.
“Either the FCC or the NTIA could theoretically take on a more independent role in spectrum management if CSMAC wants a single agency in charge” and shifting control to one agency does make sense, said Jeffrey Westling, R Street Institute technology and innovation policy resident fellow. Currently, NTIA manages federal spectrum and the FCC other uses, he said: “Theoretically, if the borders of frequency bands were clear and easily divisible, this kind of breakdown could work well, as each entity could just stay within its allocated portion of the radio spectrum. But with spectrum, borders are often messy.”
Disagreements are accelerating, Westling said. “The coordination process between the NTIA and the FCC over the last year or so hasn't been great, and other agencies have engaged more publicly with the FCC about their respective spectrum disputes.” Some disputes are murky, since meetings of the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee, which coordinates federal spectrum, aren’t open to the public, he noted. “The problem may be larger than the NTIA, and the fact that two heads of the NTIA have resigned within the last year doesn't make the leadership at the Department of Commerce look great,” he said.