Trump Administration Launches 'Sprint' to Identify 600 MHz for 5G: NTIA
NTIA is “hard at work” identifying 600 MHz of midband spectrum for licensed use, acting Administrator Adam Cassady said at an agency town hall last week. “That is utterly critical to our mission,” he said. Lynna McGrath, deputy associate administrator for the Office of Spectrum Management (OSM), said NTIA has set up five working groups to explore the commercial use of three target bands.
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Cassady said NTIA has had a “busy two months” since he was appointed interim leader, including working on the BEAD program to make it “tech-neutral,” per the “vision” of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (see 2505140054). “I can say that we’ve made great progress on that,” Cassady said: “We are closing in to getting something out the door and giving states the certainty they most certainly require.”
McGrath, formerly a NASA and DOD staffer, offered additional details on NTIA’s push to identify 600 MHz for 5G and 6G. The Trump administration wants a “spectrum sprint,” McGrath said. OSM was directed to take the studies being developed as part of the last administration’s national spectrum strategy and “pivot,” she said.
OSM is looking at three different bands, used by many federal agencies, to find 600 MHz in 10 weeks, McGrath said. “So the spectrum sprint was born.” Spectrum is where “engineering and politics and [the] economy all meet together, and we try to find a way forward,” she said. “It looks like we are on time for delivery.”
McGrath said NTIA is examining the upper C band, noting the good timing because the airline industry is already changing out radio altimeters that use adjacent spectrum tied to the initial C-band auction. Where the airlines are “doing the new standards' development, now is the time when we can look at it and say, ‘Hey, can we get a little more spectrum and make that available for 5G?’” NTIA is also working with other federal agencies to develop a process that would satisfy aviation safety requirements, she said.
In February, FCC commissioners unanimously approved a notice of inquiry on future use of the upper C band (see 2502270042).
In addition, OSM is studying the lower 3 GHz band, McGrath said. “This time we’re looking at, can we clear part of that band?” The lower 3 GHz is a “key band” that DOD and other federal agencies use, including “for homeland security missions,” she said. DOD has proposed “a dynamic spectrum-sharing concept, which would allow them to stay in place and make part of the band available for commercial industry.”
A third focus is the 7/8 GHz band, which is used by “pretty much all the federal agencies,” McGrath said. “We have a large number of fixed point-to-point microwave links in there … but it’s really a space band.” NASA and NOAA have satellite uplinks in the band, while DOD has satellite downlinks, she said. “It’s a pretty complex situation,” she added: “We’re looking at, can we make a portion or all of the band available for commercial use?”
Cassady also praised agency staff for being “all out, really working hard” on spectrum, BEAD and other issues. “I appreciate that. I notice it,” he said.