White House Asks for Changes to Federal Spectrum Policy
The White House released a memorandum late Tues. setting up a process under which federal agencies will have to explain their spectrum requirements. The memo, signed by President Bush, directs federal agencies to implement the other recommendations issued in 2 June reports on spectrum use in the 21st Century.
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Several sources expressed surprise the administration took the time to hand down the memo so soon after the Nov. election. The development comes with key spectrum legislation creating a spectrum trust fund stalled in the Senate (CD Dec 1 p9). “The most interesting thing is less the substance but that they were able to focus on this so soon after the election with so much going on,” said attorney Scott Harris. “This suggests this is a priority for the administration and that’s all for the good.”
Among its conclusions, the memo directs the Secy. of Commerce to “develop a plan for identifying and implementing incentives that promote more efficient and effective use of the spectrum while protecting national and homeland security, critical infrastructure and government services.” In June, the Bush Administration made 24 proposals for improving the management of spectrum policy, including a govt. testbed (CD June 25 p5), the proposal getting the most attention.
Greg Rohde, former NTIA dir., told us Wed. one shortfall of the initiative is that the reports address govt. but not commercial spectrum. “Where’s the push in the non-federal sector to urge more efficient use of spectrum?” Rohde asked. “There’s a great need for more oversight in how spectrum is used on the non-federal side. Is it being used efficiently? Is it being used at all? What this report does, what the White House is doing, is a good thing. It'd be nice to see the FCC follow suit.”
But most comments gave the release of the memorandum positive notice. “It’s great to see Presidential involvement on this,” said Peter Pitsch, communications policy director at Intel. “Hopefully this signals the Bush administration is going to kick it up a notch on spectrum reform. God knows we really need it.”
CTIA Pres. Steve Largent said “President Bush took the next crucial step in developing a sound spectrum policy not only for today’s information age, but for years to come… As I stated in June, these recommendations provide the necessary roadmap for how the wireless industry, along with the appropriate government bodies and industry segments, can work together to develop an efficient long-term spectrum plan.”
NTIA Dir. Michael Gallagher said he looked forward to working with Congress and the FCC at implementing the 24 recommendations. “The next steps will be the development of a Federal Strategic Spectrum Plan, the creation of incentives to promote efficient and effective spectrum use for federal agencies, as well as new IT applications and the development of a spectrum sharing and innovation test bed,” he said.