New Head of U.S. Delegation Fully Engaged in WRC Prep: White House Official

Steve Lang, who recently replaced Anna Gomez as head of the U.S. delegation to the World Radiocommunication Conference (see 2309120069), is already hard at work preparing for the conference, said Austin Bonner, deputy U.S. chief technology officer-policy, at the Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas last week. Lang has been “out on the road, meeting his counterparts to help pave the way for U.S. success,” she said. The WRC starts Nov. 20 in Dubai.

“A successful WRC is key to the United States’ digital diplomacy this year,” Bonner said. “It will be important to increase opportunities for 5G and 6G, preserve opportunities for licensed-exempt uses in the 6 GHz band, promote updates to non-geostationary satellite regulatory procedures and spectrum allocations and promote opportunities for space science and lunar exploration,” she said. The U.S. is well positioned in most areas, “but we recognize that there’s more work to do,” she said.

Bonner said U.S. priorities include global harmonization of the C band and preventing changes in how 6 GHz is treated by the ITU. 6 GHz is “unique in that it already has a primary mobile service allocation globally and countries may use it today for any type of mobile service applications, licensed or unlicensed,” she said (see 2309050085). “Maintaining no change here will leave it up to counties to decide on what mixed of licensed and unlicensed use are best for them,” she said.

This WRC can set a path for what bands are most feasible for 5G and 6G, Bonner said. The U.S. has already identified the upper 12 GHz band as “one possibility and the U.S. delegation is examining the outcomes of recent regional meetings to help its views before WRC-23,” she said. “We all know” spectrum policy isn’t “going to get any easier as we move forward,” she said.

The Biden administration is also encouraged by work on a national spectrum strategy, expected to be released this year (see 2309210043), Bonner said. “I am absolutely thrilled with the huge amount of input people and organizations … have provided through NTIA’s public engagement so far,” she said. “You’ve given NTIA some great ideas to work from,” she said. The administration recognizes “we’re not writing on a blank slate,” she said. The administration is “committed to institutionalizing a trustworthy and predictable process for managing change in spectrum allocations and resolving disputes,” she said.

Bonner also stressed the importance of Congress restoring the FCC’s auction authority, which lapsed in March.

Scott Harris, NTIA senior spectrum adviser, said meetings continue even as the strategy is being written by staff. “This is not an NTIA spectrum strategy, this is a national spectrum strategy,” he said: “We hope and we expect that this strategy will provide the framework for solving spectrum management problems and answering a lot of the tough questions in the months and years ahead,” he said.

The administration has committed to identifying 1,500 MHz of spectrum to study for possible repurposing, Harris said. “I think we’re going to exceed that goal and I think we’re going to exceed that goal substantially, and yes, we will be including lots and lots of mid-band spectrum,” he said.

The strategy will identify “systemic weaknesses” in the federal government’s spectrum management process, Harris said. “One is the lack of early and regular interaction on both the policy and technical levels between the executive branch agencies and the private sector” and that will be addressed, he said. “We want to put an end to reactive crisis management that has sometimes followed piecemeal and uncoordinated efforts to address spectrum allocation and related issues,” he said.

Another weakness is a “lack of sufficient reliance on quantifiable, evidence-based methodologies in making spectrum decisions,” Harris said. The strategy also stresses the importance of science and using improved technology to better manage spectrum, he said. “We are just in the beginning stages of utilizing dynamic spectrum technologies and tools to boost sharing and opportunistic access,” Harris said: “The federal agencies need to get really good at this.”