CTIA Hopes Trump Continues Spectrum Studies That Biden Started

Brake said the strategy “was certainly pointing in the right direction, identifying key bands” that could be freed for commercial access. “We have to build on what was accomplished,” he said. “We don’t want to start over from scratch."

The Joe Biden administration was “revisiting” some of the previous studies of the lower 3 GHz band, especially the Emerging Mid-Band Radar Spectrum Sharing (EMBRSS) Feasibility Assessment, completed in 2023 (see 2404030052), Brake noted.

He stressed the importance of DOD's willingness to move operations off “decades-old” systems that are “tremendously outdated,” like the Airborne Warning and Control System. AWACS is widely viewed as the most difficult band for DOD to address because it’s airborne (see 2406100043). Brake also predicted expansion of the current 7/8 GHz study to consider parts of the band above 7.125-8.4 GHz, which is now being studied.

Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, said the heart of the strategy is examining bands for clearing, primarily of federal incumbents. “Those studies are ongoing, and it would be wise” to continue, he said. If Congress remains deadlocked on spectrum legislation, “it’s better to have … answers than to stop everything.”

Calabrese urged Congress to reauthorize FCC auction authority for 10 years, without mandating specific bands for auction. “It should leave that to NTIA and FCC to figure that out.” He added, “Requiring an auction of military spectrum is premature and a recipe for continued stalemate.”

Brooke Donilon, NCTA vice president-government relations, said discussions about finding more spectrum for unlicensed use need to continue. “This is how consumers use spectrum,” she said: “You want to get GB speeds into your home, but you don’t want to plug into an Ethernet cord -- Wi-Fi.” The reason Congress has been unable to act on extending FCC auction authority is that “certain industries have made this a zero-sum game.”

The Congressional Budget Office shouldn’t score unlicensed spectrum as worth zero dollars as it evaluates FCC auction authority, Donilon said. People say the 3.45 GHz auction raised $21 billion, she said, but “it did not. The clearing costs … were $13 billion, so now you’re looking at $6 billion to the Treasury, not $21 billion.” The cost of clearing the lower 3 GHz band has been projected at $120 billion, she said. “If you share it, you don’t have to relocate anyone -- you have to look at the relocation costs.”

Donilon said DOD formerly used 3.45 GHz and was “compressed” to the lower 3 GHz. “Now people are asking them to compress again,” she said. “At some point, there will be no place for them to relocate to.”

If the administration adopts an approach similar to the citizens broadband radio service band for the lower 3 GHz, the frequencies could be opened immediately, said Jennifer McCarthy, a telecom regulatory attorney who previously worked for Federated Wireless. In CBRS, the FCC allowed general authorized access ahead of an auction, she noted. “That seeded the market -- that got equipment manufacturers building equipment for CBRS,” she said. “We could do the same thing” in the lower 3 GHz band, allowing carriers to use the band “on the same terms as everybody else.”

Brake said the tools available that have proven to work well involve “licensed users working directly with the military to be able to free up … spectrum.” CTIA disagrees with the high numbers DOD cited for clearing the lower 3 GHz band, he said.

CTIA is seeking access to only part of the spectrum, below 3.3 GHz, which “meshes” with the 3rd Generation Partnership Project standard for 5G already deploying around the world, Brake said. Whatever DOD is doing to accommodate that allocation in other places where it’s active, it should be able to do here, he said: “This is eminently achievable” if carriers can engage with the military.