Bidirectional Spectrum Sharing Increasingly Federal Government's Aim, NTIA Official Says
Though private-sector demand for federally used spectrum is growing, federal agency need for spectrum is also on the rise, and NTIA is increasingly looking at bidirectional sharing -- in which the federal government also gets access to nonfederal spectrum -- Paige Atkins, associate administrator, NTIA Office of Spectrum Management, said at an FCBA Wireless Telecommunications Committee brown bag lunch Wednesday. The agency no longer views private/public sector spectrum matters as a zero-sum game in which spectrum gained by one party means a loss for the other, she said: "We're trying not to think that way anymore.”
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Such spectrum sharing, as in the 2025-2110 MHz band, helped make the AWS-3 auction possible, Atkins said. The Defense Department agreed to partially vacate the 1755-1780 MHz band, which was then sold at auction, and move operations to the 2025-2110 MHz band (see 1311260054). "Without that element, we couldn't have done what we did," Atkins said.
The federal government also is looking at ways for lessening its spectrum demand, she said, from experiments on the International Space Station related to wave form efficacy to agencies looking at non-RF options for communications, such as optics. "We're trying to understand the implications on both sides and how [need for spectrum] might be met in alternate ways," she said. In response to a question about the likelihood of reallocation of spectrum currently used for radar, Atkins said the NTIA is reviewing some bands with radar systems in them. "The radar community feels the pressure, the need to share with others or do things in different ways," she said. In December Atkins said NTIA has planned “measurement applicability analysis” and “initial spectrum occupancy measurements” in the 1300-1390 MHz band, which includes various federal users, many for radar (see 1512020068).
Intra-agency sharing made for relatively easy understanding when there were interference issues and how to mitigate them, Atkins said. As spectrum gets shared more broadly, knowing where interference is coming from becomes more challenging, and better monitoring and techniques for rectifying such problems will be needed, she said.
With the federal government using spectrum for everything from weather tracking to law enforcement and defense purposes, NTIA's prime spectrum priority is balancing those needs with private sector demand, particularly in the form of providing 500 MHz of additional spectrum for broadband, Atkins said. "The more sharing we can do, the better we can optimize that resource," she said, pointing to heavy federal sharing currently, such as the 1755-1780 MHz band used by 15 different agencies. With 245 megahertz repurposed, the federal government is close to halfway to that 2020 goal, she said. NTIA had announced that 245 MHz achievement more than six months ago (see 1507080035). Atkins said NTIA is assessing other bands for repurposing viability but didn't give specifics.
NTIA already has "an open-door policy" when it comes to collaborating with the private sector on spectrum issues, said Atkins and Derek Khlopin, senior legal adviser for spectrum to NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling. However, the agency also is coming up with a more formalized process for such interactions, she said.
A joint NTIA/FCC public notice on the model city program could be ready by the end of March, Atkins said. The two agencies held a joint workshop last year (see 1504160049), and the notice would be to solicit proposals for model city implementation, she said.