Biden Administration Making Progress Toward Spectrum Strategy

The Joe Biden administration could be poised to take an action the Donald Trump White House tried but wasn’t able to complete and release a national spectrum strategy, industry officials familiar with the administration’s work on the issue told us. That follows what could be key meeting in May at the Aspen Institute. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson participated in the two-day session, which focused specifically on a national strategy.

Under the rules of the Aspen forum, which wasn’t open to the public, participants agreed not to disclose what was said, though attendees said the focus throughout was on a strategy. About 25 national spectrum experts and key FCC and NTIA staff attended, officials said.

Aspen convened spectrum policy roundtables for many years, before the COVID-19 pandemic, “but this one was explicitly designed to discuss a national spectrum strategy,” one attendee said: “It was mostly high-level ideas. … They have the much harder task of integrating a strategy that ideally applies to both federal and commercial spectrum, and then put that on a timeline.”

Rosenworcel said after the FCC’s August meeting (see 2208050023), her agency expects to play a big role in putting together the strategy. “There’s a lot of discussion at the principal level and the staff level about what that would look like,” she said: “We’re doing a lot of work to convey our thoughts as an agency.” NTIA and FCC agreed in early August to a revised memorandum of understanding on spectrum, including more discussions and updates to NTIA earlier in the reallocation process (see 2208020076).

Industry experts welcomed the talks between NTIA and the FCC, but warned challenges remain. First up is getting passage of legislation to renew FCC auction authority, which otherwise expires Sept. 30, raising questions about the ongoing 2.5 GHz auction (see 2208080061).

“Any grandiose strategy” is a “feel good” thing and “hopefully not detrimental in the long term, but the U.S. wireless sector and American consumers need tangible, immediate plans to release more spectrum, licensed and unlicensed, for commercial purposes to replenish an empty pipeline,” said former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly.

“The spectrum pipeline is about to run dry and policymakers are behind the curve. We have not been in this kind of situation where we have brought upon ourselves such a profound spectrum drought to this degree,” said Cooley’s Robert McDowell, a former FCC member. “This was foreseeable and was indeed foreseen” and the first step is extending the FCC’s auction authority, he said. Passing an extension should be paired with rules authorizing a 3.1-3.45 GHz auction, he said: “That’s the next available piece of attractive mid-band that is closest to being auction-ready.”

NTIA, the Department of Defense, the FCC and industry “need to redouble efforts ASAP to identify more bands for auction to keep the spectrum pipeline flowing for at least another decade,” McDowell said: “Leaders in both parties need to make a spectrum pipeline bill a top legislative and White House priority. All of this could be part of a long-overdue and comprehensive spectrum plan, but there’s no time to waste. If we stall further we jeopardize our 5G competitiveness globally and we will start to impair our 6G future as well.”

'Kumbaya Vibes'

There appear to be “kumbaya vibes between Rosenworcel and Davidson,” emailed TechFreedom General Counsel Jim Dunstan. “The problem remains … that the campfire is small. Lurking in the shadows continues to be a bunch of other agencies that the administration has still not lured into the circle,” he said: “Jessica and Alan can do scant little over the long term to impact the spectrum pipeline.” Absent “a strong directive all the way from the White House, it's going to be tough slogging to get much of anything done,” he said.

As spectrum gets more crowded, “agencies and industries that rely on spectrum but aren't frequent players in spectrum policy are discovering how important it really is,” said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Broadband and Spectrum Policy Director Joe Kane. “To work at all, the spectrum strategy has to take a long-term view, which, combined with how broad the scope has become, makes this a massive undertaking,” he said: “I'm not surprised it's taking so long.”

The strategy is needed “sooner rather than later,” Kane said. “There are obvious things like the interagency flare-ups that made clear that there isn't strict adherence to a unified process for spectrum allocation,” he said: “It's now basically assumed that spectrum allocation can only happen band-by-band and only when Congress forces it to happen, which Congress will only do if it has a deadline for a must-pass issue.” That system is “unsustainable,” he said.

It’s “great” the FCC is “working on developing a strong established strategy on spectrum, but short term it is more important that congress reauthorizes the FCC’s auction authority,” said Jonathan Cannon, R Street fellow-technology and former acting advisor to Commissioner Nathan Simington.

A key part of “any spectrum strategy will be identifying frequency bands for auction, but at the end of the day there will likely be tension between the federal agencies and commercial operators,” said American Action Forum Technology and Innovation Policy Director Jeffrey Westling. “Without any guidance from Congress, the FCC and NTIA will likely continue to butt heads,” he said.

Free State Foundation President Randolph May said the strategy should be based on “a commitment to ensuring on an ongoing basis a delineated spectrum pipeline identified for future use” and a “commitment that coordination between the FCC and the Executive Branch must be improved and faithfully implemented, with the FCC’s expertise acknowledged with respect to use of private spectrum.” May wants commitments to acting to remove “wireless deployment impediments” and keeping “extraneous issues such as net neutrality, rate regulation, and such out of spectrum decisions.”