Administration on Target to Release National Spectrum Strategy This Year: Davidson

NTIA is fully engaged in the development of a national spectrum strategy (see 2301090035) and intends to release it this year, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson told the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee Tuesday. “We’re deep into it,” he said, noting that NTIA is working closely with the White House and at the other federal agencies, including the FCC. “People are deeply engaged right now,” he said. The meeting was CSMAC's first to include an in-person option since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

NTIA was surprised by the amount of public interest in the spectrum strategy, and it’s having an effect on the agency’s thinking, said Scott Harris, NTIA senior spectrum adviser. “We thought we knew everything going into this,” Harris said: “We didn’t know nearly as much as we thought we did and hearing from the public really made a big difference.” NTIA is also closely working with other agencies, he said.

“We are busy drafting, and already redrafting the strategy,” Harris said. “We have a discussion draft, which we continue to work on,” he said. The strategy focuses on the importance of communications and coordination between federal agencies and between agencies and the private sector, he said: “One goal is to avoid the reactive crisis management that has sometimes followed piecemeal, uncoordinated efforts.”

The administration also wants to avoid having to start a new process for spectrum reallocation every few years, Harris said. “It should be a continuous, open, transparent process,” he said. The strategy will identify 1,500 MHz of spectrum for study for repurposing, which doesn’t mean all of that will be reallocated, he said. Another focus is the use of technology to use spectrum more effectively, Harris said: “We believe we are just the beginning stages of utilizing dynamic spectrum technologies and tools to boost sharing and opportunistic access.”

“We received a lot of input” on the strategy, Davidson said: “We really wanted to make sure that we’re surfacing issues early in our own internal processes and the good news is we are. The bad news is we are.”

NTIA last month made good on a promise to make funding allocations to the states under the broadband, equity, access and deployment program (see 2306260007), Davidson said. “We fully expect that across the states fixed wireless and other technologies are going to be part of the solution,” he said. NTIA needs insights from CSMAC on “where the technology is going,” he said.

WRC Home Stretch

“We really are in the home stretch” on the World Radiocommunication Conference, which starts Nov. 20 in Dubai, Davidson said. Key decisions will come at an Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) meeting in Ottawa next month, he said. “Many of us are spending a significant amount of time and effort on preparations” and “it’s time to buckle down on that work,” he said. Harris said NTIA hopes to release the spectrum strategy before the start of the WRC.

Davidson noted that 127 applicants requested $1.39 billion to support testing and research and development activities on open and interoperable networks under the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (see 2306090044). That’s about 10 times the amount of money available in the first round, he said. That’s “a good problem to have” but will make NTIA’s job difficult, he said. “This is a busy time for us, a really busy time,” he said.

It’s testimony to the work of the NTIA that on July 1 carriers turned on more of their C-band spectrum (see 2306260060) around airports “and there was no discernable disruption, either to cell service or to airplanes,” Harris said: “That wasn’t random.” The NTIA’s Office of Spectrum Management is “quietly helping resolve tough spectrum sharing issues every day,” he said.

CSMAC also heard updates from its subcommittee preparing reports to be finalized later this year.

A report by the 6G Subcommittee identifies a “clash between visionary ideas and practical realism,” according to a briefing posted by NTIA. Wireless carriers are still very focused on deploying 5G and moving to 5G-advanced, “which will take a few years,” while radio access network vendors are “aggressively defining 6G technology elements and spectrum for 6G,” the subcommittee said.

A report by the Electromagnetic Compatibility Improvements Subcommittee “looks at the types of inputs needed for statistical analyses,” said an update posted by NTIA. It “discusses the use of statistical analysis by federal agencies and how it could be applied to coexistence modeling in the 5-16 GHz band” and “describes the importance of propagation modeling and potential improvements,” the subcommittee said: It also suggests “potential approaches for coexistence analysis.”

The reconstituted CSMAC had its first meeting a year ago (see 2207150059) and last met in March (see 2303100038), where it approved the first of its reports on ultra-wideband issues. CSMAC tentatively plans its next meeting Sept. 21, officials said.