The federal government re-iterated plans to free up more spectrum assets for the benefit of consumers, including looking at ways for greater sharing of resources between federal agencies and wireless operators.
In a White House memorandum, President Barack Obama laid out several steps designed to promote sharing of spectrum assets and directives for federal agencies to implement steps for more efficient use of spectrum. The memorandum specifically pointed to spectrum in the 1695-1710 MHz band, the 1755-1850 MHz band, and the 5350-5470 and 5850-5925 MHz bands.
“Expanding the availability of spectrum for innovative and flexible commercial uses, including for broadband services, will further promote our nation’s economic development by providing citizens and businesses with greater speed and availability of coverage, encourage further development of cutting-edge wireless technologies, applications, and services, and help reduce usage charges for households and businesses,” noted President Obama in the memorandum. “We must continue to make additional spectrum available as promptly as possible for the benefit of consumers and businesses.”
The steps called for include setting up a spectrum policy team that will work with the National Telecommunications & Information Administration and possibly the Federal Communications Commission to “monitor and support advances in spectrum sharing policies and technologies.” The White House added that the group will be tasked within a year to publish a report on “how NTIA and FCC are incorporating spectrum sharing into their spectrum management practices.”
In addition, federal agencies are to work closely with NTIA to more efficiently use spectrum resources, preparing reports on “quantitative assessments of the actual usage of spectrum,” as well as providing information on what spectrum bands with the “greatest potential to be shared.”
The memorandum follows the federal government’s National Broadband Plan initiative released in 2010 that called for freeing up 500 megahertz of new spectrum resources by 2020. As part of that, the FCC is looking to auction spectrum in the 600 MHz bands currently used by television broadcasters, as well as spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band.
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