3 federal agencies unite to tackle US spectrum crunch

Three government agencies are coming together to better innovate and cooperate on spectrum.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Feb. 1 said it entered into an agreement with the National Science Foundation and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to support a spectrum innovation initiative. The initiative aims to advance research centered on addressing the increasing demand for wireless spectrum in the U.S. across the public and private sectors.

The NTIA, which is part of the Commerce Department, manages the federal government's use of the spectrum, while the FCC manages all other uses, including broadcast and wireless spectrum. The two agencies have traditionally worked together to allocate spectrum between federal or non-federal use, and have more recently moved toward spectrum sharing arrangements.

However, the two agencies have more recently been at loggerheads over the FCC's April 2020 approval of Ligado Networks' application to deploy a low-power nationwide terrestrial network. The network would support 5G and internet of things services. Ligado intends to deploy its network using L-band spectrum, a term that covers the band between 1 GHz and 2 GHz. Specifically, Ligado's network will use spectrum between 1.5 GHz and 1.6 GHz, running nearly adjacent to spectrum used by U.S.-based GPS satellites to provide position, navigation and timing services.

The NTIA petitioned the FCC to rescind its approval, citing concerns about the Ligado network's "significant potential" to disrupt GPS receivers used by the U.S. Defense Department. The FCC, however, denied that petition.

In a statement on the new agreement with the NTIA and NSF, Jessica Rosenworcel, the acting chair of the FCC, said the agreement is a "step toward revitalizing the interagency coordination process." She added that better coordination between agencies ultimately means "more spectrum and more innovation."