I
know it's a somewhat cutesy title. But spectrum matters do matter. Now more than ever with burgeoning demand for various
spectrum-dependent services.
On
October 25, 2018, President Donald Trump issued a Presidential
Memorandum on Developing a Sustainable Spectrum Strategy for America's Future.
This is a welcome development if only because it elevates the priority to be
placed on spectrum matters within the Trump Administration.
The
memorandum explains that additional spectrum access is not only important for
the U.S. economy, especially with 5G wireless technology on the horizon, but it
is also important for protecting national security. Given the growing spectrum demand,
President Trump recognized that the U.S. must focus spectrum matters with some
sense of urgency:
In the growing
digital economy, wireless technologies expand opportunities to increase
economic output of rural communities and connect them with urban markets, and
offer safety benefits that save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce the cost of
transportation incidents. American companies and institutions rely heavily on
high-speed wireless connections, with increasing demands on both speed and
capacity. Wireless technologies are helping to bring broadband to rural,
unserved, and underserved parts of America. Spectrum-dependent systems also are
indispensable to the performance of many important United States Government
missions. And as a Nation, our dependence on these airwaves is likely to
continue to grow.
Those demands
have never been greater than today, with the advent of autonomous vehicles and
precision agriculture, the expansion of commercial space operations, and the
burgeoning Internet of Things [IoT] signaling a nearly insatiable demand for
spectrum access. Moreover, it is imperative that America be first in fifth-generation
(5G) wireless technologies — wireless technologies capable of meeting the
high-capacity, low-latency, and high-speed requirements that can unleash
innovation broadly across diverse sectors of the economy and the public sector.
To
the point that timeliness matters, the presidential memorandum requires federal
agencies, including the National Telecommunications Information Administration and
the FCC to report within 180 days "on the status of existing efforts and planned near- to
mid-term spectrum repurposing initiatives."
NTIA
and the FCC are to be commended for their efforts during the last two years to make
more spectrum available to enable the offering of innovative new services. So,
to suggest that the Presidential
Memorandum should spur the affected agencies to act with even greater dispatch
is not to be critical.
Here
I want to take note of two spectrum bands, by way of example, that are the subject of repurposing
initiatives that hold the promise, if resolved in a timely manner, of making
spectrum available that can be used to meet the growing demand for wireless
services and for what the memorandum calls the "burgeoning Internet of
Things."
First, the 5.9 GHz band. In 1999, the
FCC assigned the 5.9 GHz band to Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC),
which was intended to be used for vehicle-to-vehicle safety communications. But
in the almost two decades since, the spectrum has remained largely unused for
its intended purpose, while automotive safety technologies have been developed
in the marketplace using non-5.9 GHz frequencies. Even automakers have stated
in comments
filed with the Department of Transportation and the FCC that they are moving
beyond the DSRC technology to other non-DSRC automotive safety wireless technologies.
On
October 29, 2018, the FCC released a report on
its first of three phases for testing to determine if Wi-Fi can operate in the
5.9 GHz band without interfering with DSRC. In part the report stated: "We recognize there have been a number of
developments since the three-phase test plan was announced in 2016 — such as
the introduction of new technologies for autonomous vehicles, the evolution of
the Wi-Fi standards, the development of cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X)
technology, and the limited deployment of DSRC in discrete circumstances."
In
connection with the report's release, FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly stated:
"The reality is that the entire debate has
gravitated away from the type of sharing regime envisioned in the testing.
Instead, the Commission should move past this and initiate a rulemaking to
reallocate at least 45 megahertz of the band, which is completely unused today
for automobile safety." FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel issued a statement to
the same effect.
This
is an instance in which the FCC should move forward with dispatch looking
towards repurposing this band for the use of unlicensed Wi-Fi services. Repurposing
the 5.9 GHz band could lead to more Wi-Fi offloading, which, in turn, could
free up spectrum for future 5G mobile networks and spur additional
next-generation services and innovations.
Second, the L-band. NTIA and the
FCC also should move forward as promptly as possible to facilitate action on
Ligado Network's application to use the fallow L-band spectrum to deploy its
satellite and mobile network. As Free State Foundation Senior Fellow Seth
Cooper stated in a June
2018 blog, the L-band spectrum can deliver advanced satellite technology in
combination with terrestrial mobile technology, but, for now, it remains unused
pending the resolution of interference claims. In May 2018, Ligado filed an amendment
to its spectrum license modification applications in which it stated:
Mid-band spectrum like the spectrum licensed to Ligado
is vital to U.S. leadership in 5G because of its reliability and suitability
for high-quality coverage and capacity deployment. If the Modification
Applications are approved, Ligado will be uniquely positioned to leverage the
potential of this mid-band spectrum by offering next-generation network
capabilities. Ligado would concentrate on targeted deployments that deliver
focused, highly secure and ultra-reliable communications over custom private
networks to specific geographic locations that serve the industrial Internet of
Things and the emerging 5G markets, particularly in critical infrastructure
industry sectors such as rail, trucking, utilities, public safety, and oil and
gas.
A
May 2016 report by economist Coleman Bazelon projected that Ligado’s
hybrid network would generate between $250 and $500 billion in social welfare
benefits by relieving growing demand pressure for mobile wireless broadband
services. Ligado has affirmed its intent to invest $800 million in satellite
and terrestrial network infrastructure with the prospect of creating
approximately 8,000 jobs.
If Ligado's applications ultimately
are granted, the projected social, economic, and national security benefits to
the public, and to the nation, appear to be substantial. I understand that
there are continuing claims from various quarters asserting that Ligado's
proposed network raises still-unresolved interference concerns, despite
Ligado's efforts over the last couple of years to address the concerns in a
constructive fashion. Perhaps in this instance – as with the 5.9 GHz band and
others too – President Trump's Memorandum will provide the federal agencies
involved with a renewed commitment to act in a way that facilitates the
repurposing of the L-band spectrum. As Seth Cooper and I said in reply
comments in July 2018 in response to Ligado's recent application amendment,
working with NTIA, "the Commission should do all it can to reach a final
decision on the application modifications in a timely manner."
Of
course, sometimes a memorandum is just another memo. But President Trump's
Spectrum Strategy Memorandum ought to be more than just another memo. I am not
suggesting that it purports to dictate the outcome of the two proceedings
discussed here or any others. But I hope that, in this instance, the directive
is a signal the Trump Administration intends to address America's growing
spectrum needs as "efficiently and effectively as possible" and with
a sense of dispatch.
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