COMMENTERS DEBATE CHANGING SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

In comments filed last week and made public Tues., the Amherst Alliance, a citizens group that advocates low power TV and media reform, urged the Administration “to leave alone the current allocation of jurisdiction between NTIA and the FCC.” The group told NTIA: “Our second deepest concern in this docket is that NTIA will recommend to President Bush a shift of spectrum regulatory authority from the FCC to the Commerce Department, or to the White House, or to some other decision-making body which is ultimately accountable to only one person who represents only one political party… Our deepest concern… is that the President might attempt to initiate such a policy shift… by executive order rather than by seeking new legislation from Congress.” The Alliance has cast a suspicious eye on the think tank Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) for making a recommendation last fall (CD Nov 13 p2) that might be interpreted as placing all control in the White House.

CSIS told NTIA such concerns were unwarranted” because all it was recommending was formation of an “oversight body in the White House,” not replacement of the FCC and NTIA functions. CSIS said its key recommendations included: (1) Development of a “comprehensive national strategy from the White House for spectrum use.” (2) Establishment of a senior Administration position for spectrum management and a senior- level Policy Coordinating Committee in the structure of the National Security and National Economic Councils.” (3) Concentration of international spectrum-related activities in the State Dept. (4) Creation of “a White House advisory group for national spectrum issues.” (5) Development of a “public/private research consortium for spectrum.”

CSIS said in a letter filed by ex-Defense Secy. James Schlesinger and ex-Motorola Chmn. Robert Galvin that the most important of these recommendations would be creation of the Policy Coordinating Committee, “a permanent White House body made responsible for spectrum policy.” Without it, “spectrum management reform will fail,” the CSIS letter said. The committee would be made up of representatives from the FCC and other appropriate agencies, CSIS said. “Some agencies or White House offices may be concerned that the creation of this committee would lead to a diminution of their authority over spectrum issues,” CSIS said: “This concern is unwarranted.” However, the letter added, “no single agency has the authority to ensure that a national vision informs spectrum management and spectrum negotiations. Continued fragmentation and indecisions will be the result of a failure to establish a spectrum oversight body in the White House.”

Motorola agreed with the CSIS panel that “the White House should appoint a special assistant to the President to oversee spectrum management.” Such action would “bridge the divide between the spectrum management functions of the NTIA and the FCC and… facilitate resolution of interagency disputes that arise during spectrum management activities,” the company said. Motorola said “the lack of a comprehensive national spectrum policy… has severe consequences for domestic productivity and global competitiveness.” It also blamed lack of a “comprehensive spectrum plan” for “insufficient spectrum allocations for a variety of radio services” and “exorbitant auction prices for the spectrum that is available for commercial use.” The company added: “Certainly, the creation of a White House position to oversee spectrum policy during challenging times is not unprecedented. Moreover, spectrum management functions were located within the White House until the Carter administration moved them to the Commerce Department.”

CTIA said the current spectrum allocation process isn’t working “well enough to meet the demand for new… wireless devices and services.” It said much of the “inefficiency” was caused by “the politicized nature of the process, and the fact that prior reform efforts have focused only on changes to commercial allocations, rather than studying the most efficient uses of both U.S. Government allocated spectrum and commercial spectrum.” The association recommended a “rolling” long-term spectrum planning process with 3-year and 10-year plans and a focus on “what spectrum could be made available for uses other than the status quo in the future” - - rather using “a fragmented process of trying to determine how small portions of reallocated spectrum should be used.” The govt. could use an “independent review mechanism, composed of academic or other expert participants to identify commercial or government spectrum that is underutilized and make recommendations for reallocations.”

CTIA also urged NTIA to “encourage more efficient use of spectrum by those commercial and government users that are currently not subject to market forces or discipline.” CTIA said “most public safety and federal government users are not constrained by the same competitive pressures as commercial providers and in many cases they do not utilize spectrum as efficiently as the private sector.” CTIA said NTIA should consider reclaiming “underutilized” govt. spectrum but warned that using a govt. “secondary lease program might not create incentives for more efficient spectrum use.” It also urged against creation of unlicensed spectrum “underlays” because they could create “serious interference.”

The comments were sought as part of President Bush’s spectrum policy initiative last year (CD June 6 p1). Bush signed an executive order creating a task force to recommend ways to improve spectrum efficiency and directed NTIA to conduct a review of spectrum management policy. A CSIS commission, led by ex-Defense Secy. James Schlesinger, then recommended changes such as creation of a senior Administration position for spectrum management and a senior- level policy coordinating committee.

Cingular Wireless said it “does not perceive a great need to alter the existing structure at this time -- wherein spectrum management responsibilities are split among NTIA, the [FCC] and the U.S. Department of State.” However, Cingular said, “whatever spectrum management structure is put in place,” certain principles should be followed, including: (1) Seeking ways to make spectrum use more efficient. (2) Creation of “a reliable and predictable regulatory environment in which all incumbent users -- whether they are government, private or commercial -- are protected from interference.” (3) Development of new services and applications, and expansion of current ones, should be promoted.

The Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) said it was “greatly concerned with the concept of consolidated spectrum management, especially if it involves shifting state and local government spectrum management from the FCC to NTIA or another Executive Branch agency.” APCO said while it was opposed to “Executive Branch jurisdiction over state and local government public safety spectrum,” it thought better cooperation between NTIA and the FCC would help. On another issue teed up for comment, APCO said it thought the current frequency coordination process “has been highly successful in allotting scarce channels in an efficient manner, while protecting critical public safety operations from dangerous interference.” However, the process could be improved through “standardized procedures, databases and interference protection criteria among frequency coordinators.”

A bifurcated structure with one agency allocating spectrum and another assigning it “could be a more efficient and rational approach,” said Lockheed Martin in its comments. The approach would retain FCC and NTIA authority for assignment decisions for industry and the govt., Lockheed said, while an additional agency would be created within the Executive Office of the President for allocation decisions. Lockheed asked the NTIA to involve federal spectrum users in planning. Additionally, Lockheed said NTIA should consider adopting “more specific and immediate ways to improve” spectrum management, like creating more transparency in the FCC-Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee coordination and clarifying “the appropriate structure for regulatory review of out-of-band emissions that have the potential to affect [govt.] systems operating in exclusive [govt.] spectrum.” Lockheed also asked the NTIA to ensure that existing users of govt. spectrum be protected from new entrants: “To that end, the [govt.] should consider a program of private interference labs to assist with state-of-the-art modeling and simulation capabilities to test the impact of proposed operations on existing providers.

The Satellite Industry Assn. (SIA) said “certain critical principles -- transparency, predictability, and certainty” should be “adhered to regardless of any structural reforms that may or may not occur as a result of this initiative.” SIA didn’t propose or support changes to the existing bifurcated spectrum management system, but said NTIA and the FCC should coordinate in some areas to promote its “critical principles.” For example, transparency could be increased if only one Table of Allocations existed for all U.S. spectrum, SIA said: “Exclusive allocations are an appropriate spectrum management tool that should be available to both the FCC and NTIA for their respective constituencies; however… decisions to make or maintain exclusive allocations should continue to be addressed on a case-by-case basis.” SIA asked NTIA to include the satellite industry in future broadband initiatives. SIA also urged the Dept. of Commerce and the Administration not to adopt spectrum fees (except for the actual cost of processing licenses) or regulation applying “disproportionately” to satellite capacity and services: “Spectrum fees function most often as a form of indirect taxation of satellite services and will be self-defeating for the industry, the public, and [govts.] alike… The imposition of spectrum fees that are not appropriate to costs associated with strictly essential regulatory or administrative functions runs counter to public interest policies aimed at increasing satellite services through pro-competitive, market-driven efforts.” Additionally, SIA encouraged NTIA to continue to be active in the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) preparations, proposing NTIA participate in regional WRC proposal briefings and present its issues in one or more briefings.