US Spectrum Strategy

The U.S. Dept of Commerce has finally published a National Spectrum Strategy that could pave the way for 2,786MHz of frequencies to be repurposed for new use. That is nearly double NTIA’s initial target of 1,500 megahertz.

The frequencies in question, across five bands, will be studied for potential new uses, and the study could go either way. The next step will see the Biden-Harris administration develop and publish an Implementation Plan.

The spectrum target includes more than 1,600 megahertz of midband spectrum – a frequency range in high demand by the wireless industry for next-generation services.

As required by the Presidential Memorandum titled Modernizing United States Spectrum Policy and Establishing a National Spectrum Strategy, the Secretary of Commerce, through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), prepared this National Spectrum Strategy to both promote private-sector innovation and further the missions of federal departments and agencies, submitting it to the President through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The Strategy reflects collaboration with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), recognizing the FCC’s unique responsibilities with respect to non-Federal uses of spectrum, and coordination with other Federal departments and agencies (referred to collectively here as “agencies”).

The NTIA will study the following bands in the next two years, noting that the spectrum could support a range of uses, including mobile broadband (IMT), drones and satellite operations:

3.1 GHz-3.45 GHz
5.03 GHz-5.091 GHz
7.125 GHz-8.4 GHz
18.1 GHz-18.6 GHz
37.0 GHz-37.6 GHz

Note that for terrestrial IMT (3G, 4G, 5G), the only one of the above frequencies approved by ITU-R Radio Regulations in ITU-R M.1036 is 3.3 GHz-to-3.7 GHz frequency range. Please refer to my Comment in the box below this post.

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The goals of the Spectrum Strategy are to: drive technological innovation (including innovative spectrum sharing technologies); boost U.S. industrial competitiveness; protect the security of the American people; foster scientific advancements; promote digital equity and inclusion; and maintain U.S. leadership in global markets for wireless equipment and services, as well as innovative spectrum-sharing technologies. Dynamic spectrum sharing will be part of the plan.

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Industry Reactions to the Strategy:

“It is a critical first step, and we fully support their goal of making the 7/8 GHz band available for 5G wireless broadband and their decision to re-study all options for future full-power commercial access to the lower 3 GHz band,” said Meredith Attwell Baker, president and CEO of industry body the CTIA. “In order to meet growing consumer demand for 5G, close America’s widening 5G spectrum deficit and counter China’s global ambitions, America’s wireless networks need 1500 MHz of additional full power, licensed spectrum within the next ten years. Failure to make this spectrum available risks America’s economic competitiveness and national security,” Attwell Baker added.

“The plan released today will secure our digital future by eliminating the structural problems that hold back U.S. wireless innovation,” added Harold Feld, senior vice president of consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge.

“For six years, the United States has lacked a comprehensive spectrum strategy,” he said. “This lack of a national plan has created increasing tensions between the FCC’s efforts to meet our ever-expanding need for wireless capacity and federal agencies trying to carry out vital missions from weather forecasting to national security. These tensions, in turn, have compromised our ability to develop new wireless technologies and undermined our ability to maintain global leadership.”

“We hope this reallocation will help correct the midband spectrum imbalance that currently prioritizes unlicensed and federal uses – a disparity that fails to meet Americans’ ever-accelerating demand for mobile connectivity and neglects licensed spectrum’s place as the foundation of our wireless ecosystem,” AT&T’s Rhonda Johnson, EVP of federal regulatory relations, said.

“We don’t think the events of today should be thought of as anyone scoring a touchdown, but rather, moving the ball from one’s own 20-yard line to the opponents’ 40,” summarized the financial analysts at New Street Research in a note to investors Monday.

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Light Reading’s Mike Dano had 5 takeaways from NTIA’s Spectrum plan:

1. It’s evolutionary, not revolutionary.

2. It’s pretty boring.

3. It makes no clear decision on the lower 3GHz band.

4. Sharing, and other spectrum management technologies, are encouraged.

5. 6G is mentioned, but only obliquely.

References:

https://www.ntia.gov/issues/national-spectrum-strategy

https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2023/11/biden-harris-administration-launches-national-spectrum-strategy-advance

https://telecoms.com/524821/us-spectrum-plan-eases-frequency-frustrations-to-an-extent/

https://www.lightreading.com/5g/five-takeaways-from-biden-s-new-national-spectrum-strategy