DOD Will Begin Some National Spectrum Strategy Work This Week

DOD is starting part of its work on the national spectrum strategy on its own. At a meeting Wednesday, it will launch an initiative investigating dynamic sharing in the lower 3 GHz band, as a continuation of the Partnering to Advance Trusted and Holistic Spectrum Solutions (PATHSS) process. DOD announced the meeting last month (see 2404080063), but it has received relatively little attention. A former NTIA official saw no reason for concern.

Meanwhile, raising more questions about the national spectrum strategy, NTIA has yet to stand up a new iteration of the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee. Early last month, expectations were that an announcement was coming soon, with a meeting as early as June. That is potentially significant because of CSMAC's role under the strategy (see 2404030033).

An industry official told us it was surprising NTIA has yet to make an announcement on CSMAC. The official also said DOD’s starting work on part of the spectrum strategy may not completely fit with the spirit of the strategy and that participation through PATHSS is difficult for smaller players. The implementation plan for the strategy, released in March (see 2403120056), mentions CSMAC 36 times.

Jonathan Cannon, R Street Institute policy counsel-technology and innovation, has concerns about the way the process is happening. “Stakeholders need to be able to find an incentive for DOD to come to the table,” he said. Currently, “we have no assurances of any commercially viable spectrum.”

Scott Harris, who led work on the spectrum strategy while at NTIA, said while NTIA and DOD were designated as co-leaders on one of the two efforts in the strategy on dynamic spectrum sharing, NTIA “always anticipated that DOD would move out on its part of the project right away, and wanted it to do so.”

The intention was for the private sector to play a role “and it made sense for DOD to use the PATHSS process because it already had the contracts and infrastructure in place which made it easier to move quickly -- and speed is of the essence here,” Harris emailed Monday. PATHSS won't be used for private sector involvement in the band studies, he noted.

On CSMAC, Harris said the advisory panel wasn't intended to play a major role in the band studies. “Rather, it is intended that the CSMAC play a central role in building out a new cooperative spectrum planning process,” Harris said. The speed of establishing a new CSMAC is less important than ensuring it has the “right combination of expertise and stakeholder involvement,” he said: “Any delay in setting it up is likely to ensure it has the right members for its increasingly important role.”

In a speech earlier this month at the CTIA 5G Summit, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson mentioned CSMAC's role in coordination under the strategy. “This is the often unglamorous work that actually makes a huge difference over time,” Davidson said. He stressed that DOD work on dynamic sharing is separate from the study of the lower 3 GHz band, a major focus of wireless carriers (see 2405060051).

CSMAC has had a troubled history in recent years and didn’t meet for much of the Trump administration, despite a growing focus on spectrum. The last iteration of CSMAC convened in July 2022, its first session since April 2021. Its final meeting was in December (see 2312190076). Also in December, NTIA released a notice seeking new members for the group (see 2312260018).

With the departure of Harris, Derek Khlopin, deputy associate administrator-spectrum planning and policy in the Office of Spectrum Management, is heading NTIA work on the strategy (see 2404260050).