PENTAGON CITES STRATEGIC VALUE OF SPECTRUM AS 3G DECISIONS PEND

One common theme among speakers was need for oversight among federal agencies that have squabbled over spectrum, with Schlesinger raising possibility that new entity could be located in White House or Congress. Message of continued intransigence from military on relatively narrow 3G relocation options also came with passing of self-imposed target of June 30 for releasing Administration legislation on relocation fund that would be used to reimburse govt. users that must relocate to other bands. Proposed bill is said to be hung up in Office of Management & Budget (OMB) review because of continued concerns raised by military over final product.

Meeting at CSIS marked start of review of spectrum decisionmaking that Schlesinger said wouldn’t venture into allocation decisions but would remain focused on process itself. Group of representatives from industry, govt. and academia plan to work on recommendations for improving spectrum management that will be presented in report to Congress. Speakers repeatedly called for overhaul of spectrum decisionmaking that would be less driven by budgetary considerations.

Need for high-level oversight among different federal agencies was cited by some panelists. CTIA Senior Vp-Govt. Affairs Steven Berry raised possibility of “interagency senior advisory group,” overseen by White House, which would oversee “significant” spectrum policy decisions. Schlesinger, who also served as first Energy Secy., called for oversight function: “One of the embarrassments of the Executive Branch is the continued squabbling amongst the agencies, even within the Department of Defense itself. One cannot rely on the agencies to solve these problems in unison. Somebody has to come down on these agencies from above, whether that is the White House or the Congress.”

Several panelists called for mechanism that would provide incentive for return of spectrum inefficiently used by either govt. or commercial users. “Currently, we think there are some disincentives for broadcasters to relocate,” Berry said. “Should we look at mechanisms to improve government spectrum efficiency use?” he asked. He said that point was raised at recent congressional hearing on govt. spectrum that hadn’t undergone review for 10 or more years. He also raised possibility of govt. taking position of advocating global harmonization of DoD spectrum as part of World Radio Conference planning process. “Our problem in the industry is we are desperate for a solution on which we have been waiting for 10 years so far,” Berry said. NTIA is nearing completion of 3G viability assessment examining 90 MHz of spectrum at 1.7 GHz and 2.1 GHz. Berry said that 90 MHz might provide breathing room that policymakers sought in order to give adequate spectrum to industry while larger spectrum decisions were made.

Relocation fund included in President Bush’s budget proposal earlier this year would create fund to reimburse federal agencies that had to relocate from bands auctioned to commercial users, financed from spectrum auction proceeds. While proposal still must clear OMB review, Berry said that concept was under consideration by Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Hollings (D-S.C.), House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.), Rep. Markey (D-Mass.), Sen. Dodd (D-Conn.), ranking House Commerce Committee Democrat Dingell (Mich.), Sen. Jeffords (I-Vt.). Rep. Pickering (R-Miss.) recently described passage of relocation fund as doable by Congress by year-end. But with proposal still not released from OMB, some in industry have questioned whether much longer delay would create too small a window for passage this year. Some have viewed military as trying to slow process to delay congressional action until next year.

Senate Commerce Committee has been interested in developing broad spectrum issues and is awaiting release of 2nd half of General Accounting Office report, said James Assey, panel’s majority counsel. Report is expected to focus on U.S. participation in World Radio Conference and ways to make U.S. position “better heard globally,” Assey said. Generally, committee has been interested in providing “some certainty and predictability” to spectrum planning process, he said. “That goes for our national security interests as well as for the commercial sector.”

Raduege pointed to statutory requirements that govt. users be reimbursed for relocation and be given comparable spectrum in situations in which incumbents must move. But he also repeatedly stressed increasing importance of spectrum to “network-centric” military operations, as shown in Afghanistan, where Operation Enduring Freedom has made heavy use of unmanned aerial vehicles that rely on wireless technology. Citing areas such as Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, he said troops were “going to be deployed over there and are going to be trying to make telephone calls or try to get communication through and we hope we aren’t competing with somebody who is trying to send a picture over a telephone to a friend.”

David Farber, former FCC chief technologist and now U. of Pa. professor, cited promise of wireless data technologies such as 802.11 that had proliferated in unlicensed spectrum. “There will be a lot of pressure to expand these bands and it’s not going to be a lot of fun to watch,” he said. Farber also criticized cutbacks at many U.S. wireless companies that had created situation in which only Microsoft and IBM were expanding research labs in that area. While wireless research labs in other countries are growing, “we have sort of decided we don’t need research,” Farber said. “We are going to fall off a cliff in this country.” Acknowledging that DoD needed spectrum when military operations called for it, and that spectrum otherwise could lie fallow, he said agile radio technology could be one way to get more use out of bands that weren’t being operated at full potential now.