NTIA Releases 37 GHz Report That Advocates Sharing
NTIA on Tuesday released the first of the band-specific reports called for in the national spectrum strategy (see 2403120056) on the 37 GHz band. Due last month, the report was developed with DOD and recommends a federal and nonfederal co-primary sharing framework for the lower 37 GHz band.
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The wireless industry has been more focused on reports examining the lower 3 and 7/8 GHz bands, seen as potential spectrum for wide-area exclusive licensed use. Those studies are just beginning (see 2410080044). In August, the FCC released a public notice on the future of the band (see 2408090034).
The report is “a win-win for the commercial sector and for our military,” said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson during a speech Tuesday at the Practising Law Institute's Annual Institute on Telecommunications Policy & Regulation.
Industry “has been looking at this band for years” for use cases such as fixed wireless, mobile offload, industrial IoT and smart factories, Davidson said. DOD will use the lower third of the band “as a proving ground” for military tech, he added.
“There are no more easy frequency bands for repurposing,” Davidson said. “The low-hanging fruit in spectrum is gone.” The report is a “proof point” that the national spectrum strategy “can be an effective platform for getting hard things done in spectrum.”
An FCC spokesperson said in an email, “We look forward to reviewing the study and thank the NTIA and Defense Department teams for their work on this report.”
In a joint statement, NTIA and DOD said: “Sharing in the 37.2-37.6 GHz portion of the band would be on a co-equal basis between Federal and non-Federal users with priority access for DOD in the lower 200 megahertz segment (37.0-37.2 GHz), creating a ‘proving ground’ for technological solutions for unique military user needs.” The report “also identifies the need to protect passive, space-based operations in the adjacent 36-37 GHz band, which is relied on extensively by DOD for Earth observations from environmental satellites for a variety of mission needs with data also shared with Federal and international partners.”
The report continues: “With limited incumbent uses, the band presents a ‘clean slate’ for developing a new model for co-primary Federal and non-Federal access.” It adds, “Specifically, this spectrum supports the creation of very narrow, directed beams and limited propagation for ground communications, making robust forms of sharing possible.”
Policymakers “have long recognized the unique sharing opportunities of the Lower 37 GHz band, as well as the need to protect Federal sites,” including 15 military sites, five NASA receiving earth station operations and two National Science Foundation sites, the report noted. Expected uses of the band are “data-intensive applications, such as high speed, low latency 5G services,” it said: Carriers view the band “as well-suited for providing additional bandwidth, for example during large events through indoor distributed antenna deployments” and for “addressing increased demand for mobile network capacity by offloading traffic from other bands.”
Among the recommendations is the use of the two-phase procedures, as described in the FCC public notice, allowing DOD to retain priority access in 200 MHz at 37.0-37.2 GHz. Nonfederal users could access that part of the band with the understanding that the military might preempt them. Sharing in 37.2-37.6 GHz would be on a co-equal basis.
The report also calls for incorporating a World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 decision on protecting passive systems from potential interference from greater use of the band for fixed and mobile wireless.