Fischer: Report Makes Clear DOD Needs Lower 3 GHz Band

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the redacted version of the Emerging Mid-Band Radar Spectrum Sharing Feasibility Assessment demonstrates the importance of the lower 3 GHz band to U.S. defense. DOD released the report Wednesday (see 2404030052). “Modern equipment vital to our nation’s defense, including aircraft and radar, requires access to the entirety of the lower 3 GHz band,” Fischer said. “To protect this country from adversaries like China, the DOD must retain that access. … NTIA can no longer overlook the facts included in this report.” DOD shouldn’t be viewed “only as the pot of spectrum gold at the end of the rainbow,” she said. “It’s very clear the DOD is still upset that it had to vacate the 3.45-3.55 GHz band,” Reconanalytics Roger Entner told us. But the U.S. military uses its systems globally, Entner said, and the 3.3 to 3.8 GHz band was harmonized internationally for 5G. “I am not sure what the U.S. military is going to do when it operates outside the U.S. territory,” he said. Entner noted there could be problems along the borders with Canada and Mexico if those countries use the spectrum for 5G. “Acknowledging the global coexistence of 5G with these defense systems, we underscore the necessity of exploring effective approaches beyond traditional spectrum sharing, including relocation and optimization of federal spectrum use, to make more spectrum available for commercial services,” a spokesperson of 5G Americas wrote in an email. “The report confirms what experts have been saying all along -- dynamic spectrum sharing in the lower 3 GHz band can unleash U.S. innovation and commercial 5G uses without weakening national security, if the right interference mitigation techniques are applied,” said Spectrum for the Future, a pro-sharing group.