Advances in Spectrum Policies Built on Failures, Redl Says

All U.S. spectrum policies haven’t been success stories and that’s the way things should work, NTIA Administrator David Redl said at a Silicon Flatirons conference Thursday evening (see 1809060049) titled: “Spectrum Hall of Shame: The Worst (and Best) Radio Policy Decisions.” Others said flexible licenses have been a hallmark of U.S. success.

“It’s important to remember why we’ve had these failures,” Redl said. “The spectrum community in this country has something in common with Silicon Valley. We have failed, and will continue to fail, because we are pursuing innovative approaches that no one has tried before.”

The 800 MHz rebanding has been dragging on for more than a decade, Redl noted. The purpose of the rebanding was to protect public safety communications (PCS), but it has been complicated by cost issues and cross-border coordination with Canada and Mexico, he said. “We have learned a lot about how to negotiate cross-border issues, as well as how to ease potential interference between public safety and mobile services,” he said. “Those lessons will pay off in the future in the 800 MHz and 700 MHz bands.”

In the mid-1990s, the FCC launched the first spectrum auction with the PCS band, Redl said. “This is the obvious example of a risk that worked out. … These traditional auctions were a steppingstone to the novel and complex voluntary incentive auction in the UHF TV band." The government is exploring whether it can lease federal spectrum to nonfederal users, Redl said. “It’s complicated for sure, but so is almost anything worth exploring in spectrum policy.”

“A successful policy doesn’t necessarily translate immediately into the most POPs per MHz or something,” said David Goldman, director-satellite policy at SpaceX. “Are you setting up a policy that gives the most people the opportunity to try something?” Policies also need to encourage people to move on, he said. Flexible licenses are key, Goldman said. Many failures in other countries were because regulators “prescribe and say, ‘This is your license for 10 years and you’re doing this technology with it,’” Goldman said. “Flexible licenses helped the United States get ahead.”

Charla Rath, Verizon vice president-wireless policy development, said steps the FCC took to allow for Wi-Fi 30 years ago were critical. “We lived in a block allocation system” with “very little ability to actually determine your own fate as a licensee,” Rath said. “Unlicensed was a fabulous, fabulous innovation.” The U.S. has policies not seen everywhere. In some places, to sell a spectrum license “you have to sell the whole company,” she said. “You can’t buy an individual license.” Here, someone can buy a piece of a license, she said.

The important thing is learning from failures and not repeating mistakes, said Erin McGrath, aide to FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. “Flexible use is what we see as being successful,” she said. “The commission doesn’t have to regulate every time there’s a technology change.” McGrath said one of the clearest examples of a failed policy today is the allocation of the 5.9 GHz band for automotive safety -- dedicated short-range communications. The FCC gave the auto industry spectrum based on “an idea,” she said. “It sounds great. Twenty years later, it hasn’t happened.” McGrath compared DSRC (see 1809060049) with positive train control, which she said is being deployed by the railroads on flexible-use spectrum they had to buy. “That has proven to be a far more successful model,” she said.

“It’s part of the evolution of technology that you try things and some of them turn into successes,” said Jim Lansford, director-technical standards at Qualcomm. “Some of them you learn what works and what doesn’t.” Most startup companies fail, at least at first, he said. Ultra-wideband was expected to be a huge market, Lansford said. “We ended up fighting over a zero-billion dollar market.” Lessons learned in UWB helped in understanding underlays and noise floor, he said. “We’ve learned a lot,” he said. “I can’t say that everything we’ve done in wireless has been a commercial success.”