Pentagon Working With FCC on 3.45-3.55 GHz
Fred Moorefield, deputy chief information officer for command, control and communications, defended DOD’s recent request for information on spectrum sharing, which industry and FCC officials say raised questions as the commission moves toward a vote on the 3.45-3.55 GHz band. Moorefield spoke at NTIA’s virtual spectrum policy symposium. At a similar summit a year ago, officials promised the administration would soon release a national spectrum policy; it hasn't been unveiled.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
The RFI “has caused a lot of swirl” (see 2009210056), Moorefield said Tuesday. “DOD is committed through not only words but actions to an all-the-above approach to solving tough spectrum problems and challenges,” he said: “We do need help from industry. … The RFI continues the conversation between the government and industry on spectrum sharing but is more expansive” than an Aug. 10 notice by DOD and the White House on sharing the band (see 2008100038).
The RFI “more broadly speaks to capabilities and technologies that can help DOD advance spectrum sharing in all bands, including the important mid-band range of 3100-3550” MHz, Moorefield said. “The RFI is seeking information regarding all methods and approaches and feasibility to best develop and deploy dynamic spectrum sharing across a broad range of capabilities and for future understanding of how spectrum may be used,” he said: “We are truly trying to understand both the art of the possible, as well as current industry trends.” The U.S. needs to move beyond “the current auction-focused spectrum policies,” he said. Different approaches to sharing have worked in different bands, Moorefield said. “We at DOD know that we don’t know everything,” he said:
The way spectrum is addressed needs to evolve, said Vic Sparrow, NASA director-spectrum planning and policy. NASA also has complex spectrum needs, he said. “We cannot be assessed in the stove-piped domestic environment,” he said. “Traditionally, we always get down to time and money,” he said: “How much time is it going to take, how much is it going to cost for you to go somewhere else.” In the space sector, there are active and passive users, “which makes it even more difficult,” he said. Active users can do interference analysis and figure out whether they can share or go somewhere else, he said. Passive users use “unique, special resident frequencies,” he said. “You can't go anywhere else.”
The administration has done a good job of making spectrum available for 5G, said Kate O'Connor, Republican House Commerce Committee aide. Decisions need to be based on “engineering” and “facts,” she said. “NTIA needs to be the coordinator and continue in its coordinating role in terms of speaking across all the federal agencies for their spectrum needs.” More agencies focus on their individual concerns, and that won’t work “if we’re actually going to make large swaths of spectrum available for commercial use,” she said: “Congress anointed NTIA with this coordinating role,” and “we really can’t have agencies working in their silos,” she said.
O'Connor considers the DOD RFI helpful. The priority must remain making the band available for 5G “as soon as possible,” she said.
“We’re looking for the next next,” said Eric Burger, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy assistant director. The National Science Foundation has focused on sharing technologies, and research there led to dynamic sharing in the citizens broadband radio service band, he said. The U.S. “is making investments in not only advanced wireless but cybersecurity, supply-chain security, keeping standards bodies open and transparent, and ensuring that standards are based on the best technical solution,” he said: “All of those investments help advance American leadership.”
The first question the DOD RFI asked was “How can I deploy 5G in my own network to be more efficient and do the job better than what I’m doing now?” said Mary Brown, Cisco senior director-technology and spectrum policy. That’s “the same call for help that we're hearing from all of our enterprise users about how can we deploy wireless,” she said: Spectrum sharing will be the “new norm,” and she hopes the White House releases its national strategy.
“Spectrum sharing is going to be more and more a part of what we do,” said T-Mobile Vice President-Government Affairs, Technology and Engineering Policy Steve Sharkey: “Exclusive access is still the gold standard.” T-Mobile didn’t pursue licenses in the recent CBRS auction. There are “severe power limitations that make it look much more like an unlicensed band from an integration in the network point of view,” Sharkey said.
“We have a lot at stake at getting the spectrum policy right,” said Jennifer Warren, Lockheed Martin vice president-technology, policy and regulation. Emerging collaboration among sectors is "kind of speaks to the future of spectrum sharing,” she said: DOD is getting different sectors “to really start talking about how do we start to share, how do we start to design to share, how do we architect to share.”