House Commerce Leaders Watching Agencies’ Spectrum Reallocation Efforts, FCC Auction Actions
House Commerce Committee leaders will meet with key agencies’ spectrum officials by the end of this month, said David Redl, the committee majority’s chief counsel, during a Law Seminars International conference Monday. Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said last month they planned to begin meeting with officials from the FCC, NTIA and Department of Defense amid concerns that federal agencies were not making sufficient progress in determining what spectrum could be reallocated or shared for commercial uses (CD June 28 p5). The frustration among both Republican and Democratic leaders on the committee is “telling” given the partisan environment in Washington, Redl said. “We think this will be a good chance to get together and see” what the agencies’ timeline looks like, he said. Although the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology recommend to the White House last year that it shift its efforts toward spectrum sharing, House Commerce Republicans continue to prefer “clearing” federal spectrum, Redl said.
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Federal users of the 1755 MHz band include many Defense systems, which may prove difficult to reallocate or successfully share spectrum with commercial entities, said FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp. Most problematic are Defense’s air combat and mobile telemetry systems, which are difficult to share with because they operate at high altitudes, he said. Other government aerial systems and video surveillance systems have also been problematic, Knapp said.
The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee has been examining the feasibility of moving federal systems off of the 1755 MHz band, or allowing for sharing of the spectrum through alternatives like exclusion zones and different power limits, said Greg Rosston, deputy director-Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. CSMAC has to consider new incentives for the agencies, because they don’t have natural incentives to use their allocations efficiently, he said. Giving agencies the proceeds of a resultant auction would not be effective because it would inevitably lead Congress to reduce an agency’s budget by the exact amount it received in auction revenue, Rosston said. One viable option would be the use of spectrum fees, he said. There’s no way to write a law that would allow an agency to get funding outside of what Congress appropriates, but it could be possible for a company to arrange a barter deal, said Coleman Bazelon, principal at The Brattle Group. A company could offer to build an agency a system that uses spectrum more efficiently, in exchange for permission to share the agency’s spectrum, he said.
The committee is also “closely” following how the FCC limits participation in the upcoming broadcast incentive auction based on spectrum caps, Redl said. Its Communications Subcommittee will hold a hearing Tuesday on implementation of the auction. There is “no debate about how much authority the FCC has” to institute participation limits under the Spectrum Act, which gives the agency the authority to institute rules based on spectrum aggregation and to promote competition, said Shawn Chang, the committee’s senior Democratic counsel. Although the Spectrum Act gives the FCC that authority, House Commerce Republicans “feel strongly that everyone should be allowed to play,” Redl said. Committee Republicans “do not believe application of the arbitrary cap is consistent” with the goals of the auction, and will ensure the FCC is following “the letter of the statute,” he said. Committee Democrats believe “the FCC is following the statute,” Chang said.
Redl said he believes the auction will net the $7 billion sought for FCC public safety projects, but it’s more important to ensure the auction is successful rather than mandating it net a certain amount. “We have many shots” at netting the $7 billion, he said. Those possibilities include income from the anticipated H-block auction, Chang said.
Efforts to reallocate spectrum and improve the efficiency of wireless equipment are important, but they won’t be effective without the construction of associated wireless infrastructure, said PCIA President Jonathan Adelstein. Wireless traffic is estimated to increase by 850 percent through 2017, making new infrastructure “fundamental” in order to take advantage of any new spectrum and new efficiencies in equipment, he said.