
A 2016 chart of the U.S. allocation of radio spectrum. (Image credit – NTIA)
A 2016 chart of the U.S. allocation of radio spectrum. (Image credit – NTIA)
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) launched an initiative
These controversies have arisen in part due to the recent proliferation of spectrum uses, and because FCC focuses on promoting commercial uses of spectrum that are sometimes at odds with the interests of other users. NTIA, which represents federal users of spectrum, has publicly clashed with FCC over several of the commission’s reallocation decisions. To smooth these frictions, the two agencies have resolved to update their nearly two-decade-old memorandum of understanding
The initiative’s announcement follows the arrivals of new leaders at each agency. Jessica Rosenworcel, a former Senate committee counsel, has been an FCC commissioner since 2012 and was confirmed as the agency’s chair in December. NTIA head Alan Davidson, a lawyer and internet policy expert, was confirmed in January.
Momentum has been gathering behind spectrum management reform for some time, attracting significant bipartisan attention from numerous congressional committees.
Two years ago, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked
The resulting GAO report
The inadequacy of the MOU between FCC and NTIA, which was last updated in 2003, has become a particular focus of attention. It outlines how, and how often, the agencies will share data, communicate users’ needs, and raise potential spectrum interference issues before allocation decisions are made. In January, Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) urged
In resolving to update the memorandum, FCC and NTIA state that they aim to “address gaps in government coordination and to better reflect today’s spectrum opportunities and challenges.” In addition, they state, “For the first time, the chair of the FCC and the [NTIA head] will hold formal, regular meetings, beginning monthly, to conduct joint spectrum planning.” They note that the current MOU requires the two officials to meet only twice each year. Further, they will collaborate in the development of a long-awaited national spectrum strategy.
In 2018, President Trump directed
Another focus of the new FCC and NTIA initiative is to improve their technical ability to study spectrum interference. The agencies state they will “recommit to scientific integrity and evidence-based policymaking,” which will involve compiling “principles, guidelines, accepted technical standards, interference protection criteria, propagation models, and other characteristics” for spectrum engineering compatibility analysis.
In addition, FCC will now become an observer on the Department of Commerce’s Spectrum Management Advisory Committee
In announcing the initiative, FCC Chair Rosenworcel remarked, “Now more than ever we need a whole-of-government approach to spectrum policy. Over the past few years we’ve seen the cost of not having one — and we need a non-stop effort to fix that.”
In January, the serial controversies surrounding spectrum allocation reached a new level of public visibility when a last-minute dispute broke out
At a hearing
That response echoed
Meanwhile, the House Science Committee has been tracking threats that telecommunications equipment could present to meteorological and astronomical observation since 2019. Much of that threat relates to the possibility that even relatively weak signals could contaminate passive observations of faint electromagnetic emissions from sources such as atmospheric water or distant stars.
Scientific stakeholders have also identified additional concerns. For instance, the American Meteorological Society joined others in the “weather and water enterprise” in warning
In November, leaders of the Science Committee recommended
They also note that such matters will be important heading into the next World Radiocommunications Conference in November 2023. More generally, they assert, “A clear message from PCAST would also empower OSTP and the NTIA to advocate for science spectrum needs more effectively.”
PCAST has not yet indicated whether it plans to undertake such a study.