Trump Administration Developing Spectrum Strategy, NTIA Chief Says

The Trump administration is developing a national spectrum strategy, NTIA Administrator David Redl said at a Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee meeting Wednesday. The Obama administration took an active role on spectrum policy, promoting sharing over exclusive use licenses in many cases, but the Trump administration has been relatively quiet (see 1712270032). Redl said NTIA is working with the administration on a plan. FCC and industry officials welcomed the administration’s long-awaited deep dive.

“We’re taking a big picture look at spectrum use,” Redl said. “We’re working with the White House and other agencies to take a hard look at the existing spectrum memoranda that are part of the White House’s approach to spectrum.” NTIA is “working on that actively and we’re hoping to have something coming out soon,” he said. This was CSMAC’s first meeting of the year and the first with Redl as administrator. NTIA is also scheduling a spectrum symposium June 12 at the National Press Club “to figure out ways that we can focus this work, bring in sort of best practices that are working and really take a hard look at the approach that has been taken by the U.S. government for the last eight to 10 years and how out updating it can make it more resilient, make it a more flexible approach,” Redl said.

It was the administration’s first formal acknowledgment it's developing a spectrum strategy. In February, Kelsey Guyselman, policy adviser to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the administration was focused on spectrum but finding “low hanging fruit” is difficult (see 1802220001). The administration is looking at how to balance various interests, “not only the needs of industry and consumers but also what the federal government and federal agencies will need,” she said then.

“I appreciate the administration focusing its time and expertise to formulate spectrum views,” FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told us. “High on the to do list must be converting a good percentage of federal spectrum holdings to commercial uses. Consumer demand and private sector spectrum needs are only increasing, meaning that expediting reallocations from inefficient federal uses is necessary.”

“More planning is important,” said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. “To seize the benefits of 5G, we need a strategy for freeing up more low-band, mid-band, and high-band airwaves. For starters, that strategy should state clearly to the entire wireless ecosystem just when and how new airwaves will be made available to support 5G services. We can do that with something simple -- a calendar.” An FCC spokesman said: “We look forward to continuing our cooperation with NTIA to ensure the U.S. maintains its leadership in the race towards 5G.”

The Department of Defense’s extensive holdings loom large in any discussion, industry officials said.

Federal agencies remain the largest holders of spectrum, said Larry Downes, senior fellow-Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy. “Despite valiant efforts by previous administrations and industry, there has been a dangerous logjam for over a decade in getting real commitment from the agencies to give up or share underutilized or even warehoused frequencies.” More incentives are needed, he said: “The agencies have nothing to lose from stalling, and no budget to replace obsolete systems that are wasting key bands. There are also structural weaknesses -- the NTIA has little authority to compel action.” The Trump administration working with Congress could solve these problems “but it will take serious leadership,” Downes said.

Broadcast lawyer Peter Tannenwald of Fletcher Heald said the development raises questions. “How far will we go with the concept that most spectrum can be shared?” he asked. "How much degradation of existing service and curtailment of growth of existing systems is reasonable? When will we get to the point where federal agencies go bonkers over being squeezed out of spectrum and take their case to Congress; and if they do, will they be able to get anywhere when a faced with an onslaught of lobbying by AT&T, Verizon and Comcast?"

Reboot

“It’s always good to reboot every now and then,” said CSMAC member Mark Crosby after the meeting. The focus has always been trying to free up hundreds of megahertz of spectrum for broadband, said Crosby, president of the Enterprise Wireless Alliance. “That’s a worthwhile objective, I think, but is that the only part of it? I hope that it isn’t.” Crosby said the biggest thing government could do is to fully fund the FCC Enforcement Bureau: “I have never seen a bureau with more dire need of more funding so they could do their job.”

"There was never any question that the Trump administration was going to develop a comprehensive spectrum policy,” said former Commissioner Robert McDowell. “The only question was when.” Redl’s confirmation took longer than expected, McDowell noted: “If anyone can make up for lost time when it comes to designing a spectrum plan, it's Dave."

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Brendan Carr have made wireless infrastructure their big focus, said Gigi Sohn, aide to former Chairman Tom Wheeler. “It will be interesting to see if the administration’s position differs,” Sohn said. “It well could -- just look at the differences between DOJ and the FCC in approaching competition.”

The Obama plan was sharing at all costs, said network architect Richard Bennett. The Trump plan “will follow engineering guidelines based on the proven fact that liberal spectrum licenses produce the greatest value for the greatest number of users,” he said. “LTE networks now perform so well that users rarely need to expose themselves to Wi-Fi’s security, efficiency and privacy shortcomings. 5G will reduce the need for unlicensed to Bluetooth use cases and we’ll all be better for it.”

One of the best steps the administration could take is putting more focus on fixed wireless, said Wireless ISP Association President Claude Aiken. “It’s about time we re-examined the ‘mobile-first’ and ‘incumbents-first’ approaches of the past and started adopting policies that promote more flexible and shared use of spectrum, by a wider array of entities."

There are unknowns, but “this is a positive development,” said Chris Pearson, president of 5G Americas. “As the administration develops its strategy, we hope they will consider 5G Americas’ recent white paper on 5G spectrum. Countries that want to help their citizens by leading the 5G technology revolution will need a long term comprehensive spectrum plan to ensure adequate licensed spectrum is available.”

“Spectrum is essential to the livelihood of carriers, and CCA supports appropriate government efforts to make additional spectrum resources available for commercial use,” the Competitive Carriers Association said. CTIA looks "forward to working with Administrator Redl on a roadmap to allocate more spectrum for commercial wireless use which will also help the U.S. to secure global leadership in 5G,” emailed Scott Bergmann, senior vice president-regulatory affairs.

CSMAC Notebook

Redl offered an update on the 3450-3550 MHz band, which NTIA is targeting as the next candidate band for wireless broadband (see 1802260047). The spectrum is mostly used by DOD and “we’re happy to be digging in and doing the hard work of looking to see how we can make the systems in that band coexist with others,” he said. NTIA is looking at the broader 3100-3550 MHz band for broadband, which is targeted in the Mobile Now bill, said Associate NTIA administrator Paige Atkins. “We’ve been tasked to develop a report and determine if there are opportunities in that band.” NTIA is also working with the FCC on a plan on unlicensed spectrum use and policy, Atkins said. “We have our work cut out.” Redl also stressed the importance of the candidacy of Doreen Bogdan-Martin as director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (see 1803080058) and of protecting the Table Mountain, Colorado, field site and radio quiet zone (see 1804200021).

CSMAC also took a deep dive on the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band and the role that will be played by environmental sensing capability (ESC) operators and spectrum access system (SAS) administrators. NTIA’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences is working with industry and the FCC on making both work, Redl said. Atkins said Wireless Innovation Forum (WInnForum) still has work to do on a 3.5 GHz standard. The CBRS band “is not only novel in terms of the original three-tier licensing approach but we have also moved to dynamic protection … versus the static exclusion zones as originally envisioned and that’s to not only protect military radar but make the most out of the band that’s possible,” she said. “It’s a significant pivot point to more dynamic spectrum sharing.” CSMAC members discussed a presentation by the Enforcement Subcommittee, looking at how SASs could play a role in enforcement. “This is a deputized enforcement thing,” said Mark Gibson, senior director Comsearch, which plans to be a SAS in the CBRS band. “Our customers are the end users,” Gibson said. “If you put a SAS provider in the position of tattling on their customers, ratting them out or whatever you want to say, that chills ... the market.” The proposal “is causing no small amount of consternation among us because of the potential for a slippery slope,” Gibson said. There’s a line SAS administrators “don’t want to cross,” he said. Gibson said operating an SAS has to be profitable or no company will want to do so. CSMAC member Dale Hatfield, former chief of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology, said there’s no time to waste in figuring out how enforcement will work in the 3.5 GHz band. “This is here and now -- we’re about to deploy some of this,” Hatfield said. “If we haven’t resolved these things, we’re going to be turning on a system fairly quickly.” Who's responsible for enforcement from sources not under the control of a SAS? he asked: “What if someone doesn’t want to play by the rules?”