Sharing Spectrum Presents Many Challenges, According to CSMAC Document
Spectrum sharing between federal government and commercial users may be of only limited usefulness, warns a draft document scheduled to be taken up Thursday by the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee during a meeting at the Commerce Department. Sharing of spectrum is getting a lot of attention due to growing demand for a scarce resource.
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"The potential for significant sharing of spectrum between federal and non-federal exclusive use commercial licensees on a long term basis is limited because the use of the spectrum by federal agencies will diminish the use of the spectrum for commercial purposes,” said a draft document released on the NTIA’s website prior to the meeting (http://xrl.us/bmh8rz). “This is why spectrum sought for commercial mobile services, e.g., 1755-1850 MHz, generally needs to be cleared of federal uses.” The meeting is to start at 9 a.m. in room 4830 at the department. NTIA officials in particular have long stressed the importance of spectrum sharing, given the difficulty of clearing key federal bands (CD May 26 p4). The CSMAC Spectrum Sharing Subcommittee is drafting a report with recommendations on sharing.
There are exceptions where spectrum sharing could work, the document suggests. “Geographic sharing may be possible, so long as the areas excluded from commercial access are very limited, e.g., small rural areas such as areas around remote military bases,” it argues. “Dynamic sharing on a temporal or spatial basis may also be workable, as long as the government’s use of the spectrum is relatively low or occurs at times of the day when commercial traffic is relatively light."
The document notes that wireless carriers want the “NTIA’s primary objective” to be finding spectrum that can be fully cleared for commercial use. “Where spectrum cannot be fully cleared, an analysis should be undertaken to determine what impact those federal systems that remain in the band would have on future commercial uses, and what sharing conditions are required to protect incumbent systems,” the document said.
Discussion points by the spectrum sharing subcommittee, also made available prior to the CSMAC meeting (http://xrl.us/bmh8u8), indicate the subcommittee does not expect to recommend “a one size fits all spectrum sharing technique or policy.” Instead, plans for sharing spectrum have to be developed “on a band and entrant specific basis,” the document suggests.