Three Takeaways from NTIA’s 2024 Spectrum Policy Symposium
On February 1, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) held its annual Spectrum Policy Symposium at the National Press Club in Washington DC. NTIA, part of the US Department of Commerce and Advisor to the President on Telecommunications issues, convened speakers from across the Federal government, private sector, and academia. Speakers at the Symposium provided their reactions to the National Spectrum Strategy (NSS), which the White House released on November 13, 2023, along with a presidential memorandum on “Modernizing United States Spectrum Policy and Establishing a National Spectrum Strategy.”
The Symposium was notable for its timing, the topics discussed and for the perspectives offered by key Federal government stakeholders to spectrum policy debates. The timing of the Symposium meant that speakers could both respond the National Spectrum Strategy and make recommendations to NTIA about the Implementation Plan currently under development. Speakers addressed specific details and provisions of the Strategy that were encouraging or gave them concern and seemed incentivized to go beyond platitudes and advocate for their positions with respect to the forthcoming Implementation Plan. Surprisingly, given all the Federal government action related to spectrum during the last decade, the National Spectrum Strategy represents the first update to the Federal government’s spectrum policy strategy in more than 13 years — since the release of the National Broadband Plan in 2010.
In accordance with Four Pillars established in the Spectrum Strategy, the topics discussed included:
· The 2,786 megahertz of spectrum identified for in-depth, near-term study for potential commercialization.
· The creation of a collaborative framework for spectrum planning in the United States
· Efforts to advance research, establish investment incentives, and set measurable goals for advancing spectrum-access technologies and
· The need to develop a workforce prepared to work-on wireless technologies.
The Symposium provided the first public forum for a collection of Federal government leaders to speak on Spectrum since the presidential memorandum was released in November. From the public sector the symposium included speakers from the White House, the US House of Representatives, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Transportation, FCC, NASA, and the National Science Foundation. Through their presentations and their presence at the event, the speakers signaled a commitment across the Federal Government to develop and implement spectrum policy that will help advance US military and economic leadership globally. A theme echoed by many Federal government speakers: spectrum policy = economic policy.
Takeaway #1
New levels of engagement. Whereas spectrum policy may have once seemed the nerdy providence radio frequency engineers, the Symposium served to emphasize that Spectrum policy will be a hot topic that will garner attention from a broad array of influential stakeholders. In addition to speakers from across the Federal government, representatives from cable companies, wireless providers, system integrators, wireless technology companies, Wi-Fi providers, power and water utilities also participate in the Symposium. Across the board, the speakers confirmed that the industries they represented expect to be active and full-throated participants in the implementation of the National Spectrum Strategy. Specifically, a representative from the Utilities Technology Council confirmed that Utilities expect to be a more active participate from this point forward. Additionally, representatives from academia confirmed that university researchers stand ready to act as 3rd party technical experts and to help train the workforce for the Spectrum economy. The SpectrumX initiative was established to ensure that the spectrum policy process can benefit from the input of 3rd party technical experts and researchers. Several speakers recognized that the National Spectrum Strategy is an important first step and that the hard work is yet to come.
Takeaway #2
Time is of the essence and shot clocks are critical. Seemingly implicit in the National Spectrum Strategy an acknowledgment that time is not on our side. The Strategy breaks into Pillars short-, medium- and long-term action items and sets out important timetables for decisions and action. For example, the end-date for the study of 2,786 megahertz is not open ended — it is to be completed within 2-years. Many speakers at the Symposium praised the Strategy’s time-bounded approach. Speakers highlighted several provisions of the Strategy that, if implemented effectively and/or enforced, would accelerate the pace at which additional spectrum bands can be made available for uses including mobile wireless, UAVs among others:
· NTIA and interested stakeholders should begin to work on Pillar 2 while the work on Pillar i#2 is ongoing
· NTIA requests for data should be based in a legal requirement to provide the data
· Spectrum policy should include a process that ensures that both potential new users and incumbent users of a particular band all provide to decision-makers
· NTIA should make use of the dispute resolution mechanism set forth in the presidential memorandum.
· The experience of CBRS provides a valuable example that can inform an effective approach to dynamic spectrum sharing
Takeaway #3
There are meaningful opportunities for new collaborations that can drive consensus around a spectrum sharing process. If speakers from DoD and industry spoke to the “why” (namely, ongoing global economic and military competitiveness) stakeholders must collaborate around spectrum policy, a speaker from the FCC Chairman’s office gave voice to the “how” stakeholders should collaborate — stakeholders should collaborate around the understanding that spectrum usage is not a zero-sum game. Several speakers highlighted the promise of “engineering-first” dialogs about using spectrum more efficiently, minimize harmful interference and other technical topics. Representatives of the DoD were optimistic about the ability to leverage Open Radio Area Networks (ORAN), open standards, Machine Learning (ML) and edge computing as tools to build consensus around solutions to vexing technical issues. Other speakers highlighted optimism that collaboration will engender more collaboration. In this vein, these speakers expressed excitement that co-led, initial studies of low 3 gigahertz bands can/should set the tenor for moving forward collaboratively.
Concluding Thoughts
Drawing upon the National Spectrum Strategy and presidential memorandum, NTIA’s 2024 Spectrum Policy Symposium was a full-throated announcement of NTIA’s intention to pursue a new approach to tackling tough — but important — challenges related to spectrum use and planning. The new approach will be inclusive, transparent, data-driven and, ultimately, decisive. Federal Government representatives, including the Chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, voiced support for the new approach. Representatives of industry and academia re-affirmed their commitment to be active participants in NTIA’s process. NTIA’s goals, like those of the National Spectrum Strategy, are ambitious. The tone and tenor of the Symposium suggested that, by leveraging new levels of commitment, adhering to timetables and “shot clocks” and fostering new opportunities for collaboration, NTIA can lead a process that delivers successfully more spectrum than ever to innovate, supply consumers with new and emerging services, and carry out critical missions for the benefit of the American people.
About this Medium Site
On this Medium site, I explore an array of topics related to the transformative power of smart and connected communities. A central question for this observer of the so-called smart community movement: how will municipalities, real estate developers, universities and other leading organizations develop, deploy and support smart and connected community projects at scale?
I welcome feedback and comments from readers.
