FCC Trying to Figure Out 'Lay of the Land' in Tribal Spectrum Notice

The FCC’s August public notice on spectrum access in tribal and native Hawaiian areas is part of the agency’s broader focus on closing the digital divide, Wireless Bureau Deputy Chief Susan Mort said during an FCC webinar Thursday. Mort said she realized timing was tight on responding to the notice, with comments due Nov. 30 (see 2308040039). “To assess current and future policy efforts in furtherance of this goal, we kind of need to know what the current lay of the land is,” she said. The FCC collects some information through its licensing forms but wants to improve its understanding of how tribes may be accessing spectrum, including through leasing or by using unlicensed or lightly licensed bands, she said. “We do not currently have specific, granular answers that help us … to better identify and/or track tribal or native applications,” she said. Once the FCC decides what categories it might be able to add to licensing forms, “then there are both legal and technical steps that we must undertake,” Mort said. Clearance is faster if the FCC adds to existing questions rather than posing completely new questions, she said. “We do have to run those traps,” she said: “We’d like to move … forward as quickly as we can." No comments were filed so far in the docket on the inquiry, 23-265. “We want to be as comprehensive as we can be without being confusing,” Mort said.