FCC, NTIA Cooperation on Spectrum Worked, 'Until Recent Times,' DOD's Moorefield Says

“The best thing the utilities can do -- go to your senator, go to your House of Representatives, complain, complain, complain,” Wells said. “The FCC has not been kind to DOD, DOE or the utilities over the last six months to a year, between 6 GHz and Ligado.” In Capitol Hill outreach, many utility executives aren’t putting enough emphasis on spectrum and communications, Wells said. “It’s more in demand than ever,” he said: “You need it more than you’ve ever needed it before.”

The U.S.’ “bifurcated” processes on spectrum, with NTIA and the FCC each having a role, is “probably the best system in the world, from my perspective, when it works like it was designed to work, and when all those folks on both sides respect the process,” Moorefield said: “We’ve not had many problems in this bifurcated process until some recent times.” The FCC and NTIA didn't comment.

DOD worked directly with industry on bands from 3.5 GHz to AWS-3 “to come up with a solution that was good for everybody,” Moorefield said. That engagement has to be “the new normal,” he said.

Spectrum sharing is “hard” but necessary, Moorefield said. “When you start digging into the details … it is a hard conversation,” he said. “The U.S. can no longer perceive spectrum as a zero-sum game in which one user gives up spectrum to give the other access," he said. Each band is different and requires a different approach, he said: “They’re all super crowded.”

“We within DOD believe he who solves spectrum sharing will own it,” Moorefield said. Moorefield wants a national spectrum strategy. “We don’t know where the spectrum space is going,” he said. Having a national or FCC strategy “will help us a whole lot,” he said. “It kind of saddens me that we continue to be into this what’s next approach for everything.” DOD needs spectrum across the spectrum chart, he said. “We’re a global operator -- we don’t just operate in the U.S.,” he said: “Our enemies are out there operating everywhere. As we look to defend the nation … we have to have that flexibility and access to all the spectrum.”

Water, gas and power utilities need a common spectrum plan, with airwaves they can share, Wells said. “Everybody has different spectrum,” he said: “Can’t interchange the radios, can’t interchange the equipment.”

The move to smart cities is a global phenomenon, Bill McShane, Signify general manager-connected city experience, said during another UTC panel Tuesday. “The cities recognize that they must grow,” he said: “Their infrastructure is not where it should be. The population is demanding broadband services. The cities want to bring Wi-Fi sensors and cameras … to transform themselves.” Nodes are increasing and cities want to bring services to their constituents “but they’re looking for a better way,” McShane said. “They also have to bring fiber,” he said. “Fiber is the key to this whole deployment.”

Cities are mostly deploying in mid- to high-band spectrum, McShane said in response to our question. The citizens broadband radio service band is “becoming more and more relevant today and everyone is wanting the full rollout of 5G,” he said. “Eventually, 5G millimeter wave will come along.”

As a result of the pandemic, telecom providers are “seeing an explosion of bandwidth demand for multiple technologies,” said Jay Borer, director-carrier market development at Corning. Making technology available “can drive population growth, or at least sustained population, for many rural communities,” he said. Many households don’t have the bandwidth to deliver flawless video conferencing with apps like Zoom, he said.

Not all fiber deployments are equal, Borer said. “We’re seeing just a range of network architectures.” Some are “deploying really high fiber count cables,” up to 1,728 fibers per cable, he said. Others “are utilizing some very lean fiber-optic networks that allows for much smaller cable to be placed,” he said.