Defense Study Says Sharing Lower 3 GHz Band Not Currently Possible: NTIA

WASHINGTON, December 5, 2023 – A Department of Defense study on the lower 3 gigahertz band has found the agency cannot currently share the spectrum with commercial users, National Telecommunications and Information Administration Administrator Alan Davidson told lawmakers on Tuesday.

The spectrum has been eyed by industry for use in 5G networks. A trade group representing wireless carriers published a report in August arguing that 150 MHz of the 350 MHz band could be shared with commercial users without jeopardizing national security.

Davidson said the DOD’s report leaves open the possibility of sharing in the future if certain conditions are met, but makes clear the spectrum can’t be opened up in the near future.

“The answer is no right now. They’ve not seen a way forward on that. And we think their technical work in that area is strong,” he said.

The report was mandated by the 2021 Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act and has been on the NTIA’s desk since late September. The agency has been working to brief lawmakers on the findings, some of which are classified, but was not able to do so before Tuesday’s House oversight hearing, Davidson said.

As outlined by the Biden administration’s spectrum plan, the NTIA will continue to study opening the band in the future. The two options for that, Davidson said, are changes that would make sharing possible or moving a government system to another band. That and other studies are set to be completed within two years.

“There are no easy answers here,” he said. “But we felt the band was too important to give up.”

The NTIA has been looking into the band for years, since a report on its potential for commercial use was mandated by a 2015 law. Under that law, the Federal Communications Commission is supposed to use the agency’s findings to auction off licenses allowing use of the band’s spectrum by summer 2024.

The FCC’s ability to carry out such an auction expired in March after Congress failed to extend it, in part because of concerns over auctioning sensitive bands like the lower 3 GHz.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee cleared in May a bill that would reinstate that authority. That bill would allow for, but not mandate, an auction of the lower 3 GHz band.