NTIA Chief Says Agency Understands Need for Spectrum Pipeline

We need to “build a pipeline of spectrum that meets the needs of the private sector as well as our federal users,” Davidson said. The administration plans to identify 1500 MHz for “future potential repurposing -- an ambitious but achievable goal,” he said. “Government missions, from weather observation to defending the Pacific, are more spectrum reliant every day,” he said.

Technology can provide some of the answers “by accessing bands we’ve never used before, by making more efficient use of current spectrum bands and by developing exciting new sharing technologies,” Davidson said. The U.S. “will continue to be the world leader in advanced wireless technology,” he said: “It’s absolutely essential.”

“We are doing this because strategic planning is important,” said Umair Javed, chief counsel to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Having a national strategy means the ability to look up from the trivial and view the essential, to address causes rather than symptoms, to see the woods rather than trees,” he said. Javed noted spectrum management is “getting harder, much harder.” He wants a “reset in the way we think about spectrum.”

“The point of the strategy is to identify the bands to study, not to finish the studies, it just takes too long,” said Scott Harris, NTIA director-national spectrum strategy, this week at a Free State Foundation conference: “We will identify the bands for intensive study, based on what the public has to say, what our friends in the federal agencies have to say, what our friends at the FCC have to say.”

NTIA “will spend up to two years” on studies for the bands identified, Harris said. He said despite his long experience in industry he didn’t appreciate how much work is required for the kinds of studies that NTIA will need. You need to know more than that there are radars in a band, he said: “You need to know the precise location of every one,” where it’s pointed, “how many times during the day it’s turned on and when during the day and at what power.”

Work on the strategy will be completed by mid-November, Harris said at the end of the listening session. "We have a very ambitious internal timeline," he said.

CTIA expects five times more traffic on U.S. networks by 2027 than today, said CTIA General Counsel Tim Power. “But we have no plan as a nation to provide commercial access to spectrum to make that possible,” he said: “We need to act now, need to act decisively.” Just promising to identify 1,500 MHz isn’t enough, he said: “We need a specific target for commercial mid-band, a specific one for 5G use, and we need to commit to more than studying if we want to lead,” he said.

“China is moving aggressively to supplant our wireless leadership” and the threat won’t go away, Power said. China is deploying 5G using mid-band and has made 460 MHz available, he said. The U.S. offers 270 MHz and that includes the “very low power” citizens broadband radio service spectrum, he said.

NTIA also heard from representatives of industries concerned about preserving their access to spectrum.

Concerns Raised

Edward Hahn, senior engineer at the Air Line Pilots Association, spoke of the fight over C-band use for 5G (see 2303200069). “Pilots are trained to trust their aircraft instruments and safety systems that have dramatically reduced passenger and flight crew deaths,” Hahn said: “A national spectrum strategy should proceed carefully to ensure that the performance of aircraft systems, including safety systems, is not compromised.” The FAA should have final say on aviation safety, he said.

Utilities Technology Council and Edison Electric Institute representatives cited their concerns about unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band (see 2211030066). Utilities rely on communications “to ensure the safe, reliable and secure delivery of energy and water or other essential services,” said UTC General Counsel Brett Kilbourne. Utilities lack sufficient, reliable spectrum to meet “their increasing communications needs,” he said. The groups urged more coordination with the Department of Energy.

Consultant Renee Leduc, representing the American Meteorological Society, urged the FCC and NTIA to hire experts knowledgeable about how science uses passive bands.

Spectrum discussions inevitably turn to economics or the race for technological leadership, said Jennifer Warren, Lockheed Martin vice president-civil and regulatory affairs. Don’t forget the contributions of the air and defense industries, she said. “We design, develop and manufacture the most advanced and effective … capabilities around the world,” she said. The importance of national security is too often the last thing discussed, but it should be the first, Warren said: “The vast majority of the national security ecosystem is spectrum dependent.”

Elizabeth Andrion, Charter Communications senior vice president-regulatory affairs, suggested an examination of the 7 GHz band for sharing. “Keep DOD operations there, but there are places where Wi-Fi could be used -- this would enable the next generation of Wi-Fi,” she said. On the licensed side, Charter believes licensed use is possible in the lower 3 GHz band, she said.

Cable operators need spectrum to bring more competition for millions of subscribers, said Becky Tangren, NCTA associate general counsel. Spectrum allows NCTA members to “enable millions of Wi-Fi hot spots, fixed wireless broadband and, most recently, mobile wireless services,” she said.

The session was the first of two, with the second to be April 11 at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana (see 2303150066). Responses to a request for comments are due April 17. Harris said NTIA plans meetings with groups and companies that ask to further discuss the strategy. On Thursday, Austin Bonner, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy assistant director-spectrum and telecom policy, shared the dais with Harris and Derek Khlopin, NTIA deputy associate administrator, listening while speakers presented.