Biden Administration Announces Plan to Free Up Spectrum

WASHINGTON, November 13, 2023 – The Joe Biden administration announced on Monday a new plan for freeing up and managing wireless spectrum as private sector demand grows.

The White House’s plan calls for a two-year study on potentially repurposing five spectrum bands, a total of 2,786 megahertz. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the agency that led development on the plan, is set to conduct the study.

That push for reallocation is driven by growing demand from the private sector, the plan said. Growing technologies like 5G networks, precision agriculture, satellites, and Wi-Fi-connected devices are all hungry for the finite airwaves.

Bands slated for more immediate evaluation are the lower 3 GHz band, 5030-5091 MHz, 7125-8400 MHz, 18.1-18.6 GHz, and 37-37.6 GHz. Those are currently occupied entirely or partly by incumbents like the Department of Defense and other “mission critical” federal operations.

Industry groups support freeing up additional spectrum. Meredith Attwell Baker, president of CTIA, the trade group representing large telecom companies, applauded the plan in a statement, calling it a “critical first step” to that end.

Called the National Spectrum Strategy, the administration’s plan also set the stage for more long-term changes to spectrum planning and allocation.

The White House will develop a new process for that allocation, according to the strategy document. The process will be aimed at increasing communication between government and private sector stakeholders in those decisions.

Currently, the NTIA allocates spectrum for federal users, while the Federal Communications Commission handles spectrum for non-federal purposes. The agencies do coordinate, but the White House is aiming for a more unified process.

“Simply put, the United States needs a better and more consistent process for bringing the public and private sectors together to work through the difficult issues surrounding access to spectrum, including dynamic forms of spectrum sharing,” the strategy reads.

The plan calls for a new evidence-based methodology to help make those decisions, which the White House will develop.

Also in the strategy is a plan to set up designated areas for testing dynamic spectrum sharing and other spectrum research, and a workforce development plan.