DOD Board's Spectrum Report Puts Too Much Stress on Sharing, Says R Street

The Defense Innovation Board's report on the 5G ecosystem (see 1904040006) seems generally on target, though it may put too much emphasis on sharing, said Tom Struble, R Street Institute technology policy manager. “We have good amounts of low- and high-band spectrum either already in the market or in the auction pipeline, but there's still a lot of work left to do on mid-band, which is why the FCC's proceedings in 3.5 GHz and the lower C band are so important to get right,” Struble emailed. “I'm slightly concerned with the emphasis the DIB report places on spectrum sharing rather than clearing, reassigning, and auctioning. Dynamic spectrum sharing is a hugely promising technology, but it has yet to be successfully deployed in a commercial environment, so putting too many eggs into the sharing basket at this point may be unwise.”