Feds to carriers: Let’s share the airwaves

Federal spectrum managers on Tuesday recommended that a huge chunk of spectrum used by the 20 government agencies be made available to commercial mobile operations – a move that is sure to please carriers claiming to be strapped for airwaves. But those same operators may not be so enthusiastic about the details of proposal.

Instead of clearing the 1755-1850 MHz block of all government transmitters, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is recommending that federal agencies and mobile operators share the airwaves, splitting time over the same frequencies between commercial and government use.

U.S. Assistant Commerce Secretary and NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said that their 3,100 individual spectrum assignments in that 95 MHz block, allocated to everything from Department of Homeland Security border surveillance to U.S. Army tactical communications. While the NTIA identified several microwave communications blocks that could be easily be cleared, the cost and time to clear the whole 95 MHz swath would be enormous and might not even be possible given the scarcity of remaining spectrum that fits government needs, Strickling said.

“The writing on the wall is spectrum is a finite resource in growing demand,” Strickling said. Just as the mobile industry’s demand for more airwaves has grown, so has the federal government’s. The cost of moving some government systems, such as the Department of Defense’s air combat training network could cost billions of dollars and take more than a decade to complete. “You’re talking about transmitters literally in the skin of the aircraft,” Strickling said.

What’s more, many of the federal agencies involved were booted out of the lower 1700 MHz to make way for the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) band operators are using for mobile broadband – frequencies that many carriers haven’t even used yet. Those agencies were told they could rest comfortably in their new home for years to come, Strickling said.

The NTIA is submitting its report to the Federal Communications Commission, which is collaborating with the Commerce Department to meet President Obama’s directive to find an additional 500 MHz of commercial wireless spectrum in the next decade. Strickling said the NTIA believes that spectrum sharing is best way to balance both the need for more commercial licenses with the government’s own demand for radio communications.

Photo courtesy Flickr user Ed Yourdon

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