US govt may release broadband spectrum

wireless broadband, although there are "challenges" that must be overcome before it makes a recommendation to the FCC, including that government and commercial users will have to share the band, Multichannel News writes.

Still, add that 95MHz to the 115 NTIA has already identified, and the government would be contributing 40% of the administration's long-term goal for spectrum reallocation.

The addition of this 95MHz of spectrum, which lies in the 1755MHz to 1850MHz band, would be a major step towards reaching president Barack Obama's goal of doubling the amount of wireless spectrum that can be used for wireless broadband services by 2020, CNET reveals.

"Today's report sets a path for putting prime spectrum into commercial wireless broadband use, in support of the Obama administration's goal to encourage investment and innovation while enhancing America's economic competitiveness," Lawrence E Strickling, NTIA administrator and assistant secretary for communications and information, said in a statement.

In the past, the federal government has freed up spectrum for exclusive commercial use by clearing a spectrum band of federal users, who typically relocated to other bands, Cellular News reports.

However, given the growing demand for spectrum by both industry and the federal agencies, it is increasingly difficult to find desirable spectrum that can be vacated by federal users as well as spectrum in which to relocate these federal users. Due to the scarcity of spectrum, the complexity of federal operations, and the time and cost of relocating federal users, the old approach alone is no longer feasible.

In addition, NTIA's analysis of the cost of a complete relocation raises questions as to whether the revenues from auctioning the 1755MHz to 1850MHz band would cover the migration costs. In addition, some of the federal systems in this band may require more than a decade to relocate, which could further complicate deployment of commercial services.