WASHINGTON-Most of the Federal Communications Commission continues to hail the leasing of spectrum rights-known as secondary markets-as a way to ensure that spectrum is fully utilized, but FCC Commissioner Michael Copps believes the revolutionary rules first adopted in 2003 are illegal.
“I continue to believe that a well-regulated secondary market in spectrum could lead to more efficient and intensive use of spectrum, and with new technologies like software designed radio, could assist in bringing innovative spectrum uses to the public. Yet I run into the same problem here that I did last year with the earlier secondary markets item: While there may be a policy justification for some of this, there is no legal justification,” said Copps. “I believe the FCC’s overall scheme is disallowed by the Communications Act.”
The additional streamlining secondary-market rules, adopted by the FCC July 8, were overshadowed at that time by the FCC’s adoption of rules to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band. The commission released the text of the secondary-market rules Thursday.
“Secondary markets hold a great deal of promise for the entire nation and particularly for rural areas. By removing burdensome regulatory obstacles, we get the spectrum into the hands of the people who are willing and ready to use it,” said FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. “The commission has identified additional avenues for licensees and lessees to use the spectrum. Non-traditional approaches to spectrum facilitation, like the private commons, open the door to more users, which in turn lead to new services. As long as the FCC maintains the right balance, non-traditional approaches can potentially increase the development of secondary markets.”
The FCC created a “private commons” option for licensees to allow certain advanced-services devices to operate in their spectrum in the same way the unlicensed bands work.
As part of the expansion of secondary markets, the FCC will now allow public safety to lease its spectrum to other public-safety agencies or entities that support public safety. These entities must have a mission that is integral to public safety. For example, a public-safety agency could lease some of its spectrum to a nuclear power plant so it would have interoperable communications with the plant’s security personnel, John Muleta, chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, told reporters in July.
