DOD Still Sees Dynamic Sharing as Best Path Forward on Lower 3 GHz Band

Top DOD officials stressed the continuing military importance of the lower 3 GHz band as DOD and NTIA kick off a study of the band that the national spectrum strategy requires (see 2403120056). DOD and other administration officials during a Monday event at CTIA stressed the importance of developing more sophisticated ways of sharing spectrum. The National Spectrum Consortium also sponsored the event.

The event follows DOD’s release last week of a redacted version of the Emerging Mid-Band Radar Spectrum Sharing Feasibility Assessment (EMBRSS) completed last year (see 2404030052). CTIA has been sharply critical of the DOD-led EMBRSS process (see 2403270039) and supports the DOD and the NTIA co-led study as required by the strategy.

"The world is becoming a more challenging place,” said CTIA President Meredith Baker. “We’re losing our edge when we look at where the U.S. wireless providers stand in comparison to providers in other countries.” CTIA is eager to work with DOD on the study, she emphasized.

“This won’t be easy and some aspects of an enduring solution will take some time,” Baker said. Freeing up spectrum in the short term is important even as the administration studies longer-term strategies for advancing how spectrum is shared, she said.

The EMBRSS study, required by Congress, under the law had to assess only sharing and no other possibilities in the lower 3 GHz band, said DOD Chief Information Officer John Sherman, who noted that DOD worked with industry. One of the main conclusions was that “dynamic sharing spectrum could be one of the keys that unlocks the lower 3 GHz part of the spectrum,” he said.

Sherman stressed that DOD understands industry needs for additional mid-band spectrum. “We get it at DOD that economic security is national security,” he said: “Advances in 5G and next-G … enhance our national security.”

But DOD also must protect spectrum that the military is using, including Navy ships deployed now in the Red Sea as they protect themselves and shipping from Houthi missiles and drones, Sherman said. In addition, Ukraine is using the lower 3 GHz band to defend against Russian missiles aimed at Kyiv and other cities, he said. The spectrum is also widely used in training, he added.

Developing better dynamic sharing won’t be easy, Sherman said. “We’re going to have to make it nationwide,” he said: “It’s going to have to be cybersecure. It’s going to have to operate at machine speeds, not with some human’s hand on it. … None of us should be wedded to one thing.” Everyone is going to feel “a little bit uncomfortable” with the process and likely feel they didn’t get everything they want, he said. If industry, DOD or anyone is too happy, “then we’re probably not doing it right,” he said.

DOD wants “harmony, not conflict,” with industry, said Lt. Gen. David Isaacson, from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Relocating DOD systems “suboptimizes” their effectiveness, he said. “Our adversaries are evolving and modernizing” their systems, he said. “They have watched the U.S. over the last 20 years, and they have invested” in technology, he said: “They are producing more, not less, threat.” Systems U.S. adversaries are deploying are becoming smaller, faster and more maneuverable, he said.

Evolving technology and improved sharing technologies are the answers, Isaacson said. “Instead of making hard decisions, we have the opportunity to solve a hard problem,” he said.

Industry Role

The administration needs industry support as it explores advanced sharing, said Matthew Pearl, National Security Council director and special adviser-emerging technologies. China is the biggest threat, he said: “It’s the only country that has both the intent to change the international order, and, increasingly, the power to do it,” he said.

Having the world’s most advanced wireless networks is critical to economic and national security, Pearl said. “We can’t have the best networks unless we constantly find ways to use spectrum more efficiently,” he said. The problem is that nearly every desirable band has federal or non-federal incumbents, “and in many cases both,” he said. “We want to build the next-generation spectrum sharing capability -- this is not just about doing a report.”

Sharing in the citizens broadband radio service band has been “a great success,” but the administration wants to build on the technology used, Pearl said. “We must continue to identify and implement improvements in automated frequency coordination,” he said. Sharing regimes should encourage investments by the private sector, he said. The administration must also look more closely at ways of improving the ability of commercial networks to share spectrum, including through open radio access networks, he said.

The lower 3 GHz study will build on work done through the Partnering to Advance Trusted and Holistic Spectrum Solutions (PATHSS) process, but former PATHSS members must reapply, said Vernita Harris, DOD director-spectrum policy and programs. DOD plans the first meeting of PATHSS May 22, she said. “We intend it to be a very transparent process designed to be inclusive,” she said. DOD will work with PATHSS on any issue where it needs multistakeholder advice to better understand an issue, she said.