NEW ORLEANS-The federal spectrum czar believes that federal government spectrum users need to do a better job of encouraging innovation by private industry.
Such communication could also lead to the federal government using its spectrum more efficiently, said Greg Rohde, assistant commerce secretary for telecommunications and information.
To facilitate that communication, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration is creating a task force known as the Wireless Innovation in Communications Initiative, or WICI, Rohde announced at the CTIA Wireless 2000 federal policy makers panel last Tuesday.
The idea is to bring “together the federal users of the spectrum … different people than the traditional IRAC (Interdepartmental Radio Advisory Committee) people-from the same agencies but different people. [It will] not be a formal advisory committee but a task force [so that industry can gain a] better understanding of how they can work [with federal users] and so the federal government can take advantage of these innovations,” said Kelly K. Levy, NTIA associate administrator for policy, who was on a panel with the legal advisers from the Federal Communications Commission following Rohde’s panel.
Rohde also made a formal announcement on Tuesday where he told reporters the task force’s meetings may not be open to the public.
“We’ll take each one on a case-by-case basis … The private sector may prefer private meetings,” he said.
The first meeting of WICI is tentatively scheduled for March 29, Rohde said, but he hopes to meet with members of the IRAC on March 21.
