The telecommunications industry will not receive "carte blanche" to auction off lower portions of the mid-band electromagnetic spectrum that are critical to U.S. military air and missile defense capabilities, the Defense and Commerce departments have determined in a long-anticipated report, according to a lawmaker briefed on not-yet-public findings.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), who has raised concerns all year about the risk of repurposing 3.1–3.45 GHz for telecommunications companies to develop the 5G commercial market, disclosed a key finding of what he said is a report by the office of the under secretary of defense for research and technology and Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
“While it is not exactly as explicitly protective of the lower three gigahertz band that I think the facts merit, it is nevertheless important -- I believe -- that the report suggests it does not provide the commercial interest the carte blanche that they wanted to auction off this portion of the spectrum,” Rounds said Sept. 12 during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
The 2022 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, enacted last November, included $50 million for the Defense and Commerce departments to examine the issue.
Specifically, the law directed the two departments to conduct “engineering studies, economic analyses, activities with respect to systems, or other planning activities to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the spectrum use of the Department of Defense in order to make available [lower mid-band] electromagnetic spectrum . . . for reallocation for shared Federal and non-Federal commercial licensed use and for auction.”
A Pentagon spokesman said details of the DOD and NTIA study are not yet releasable.
“The study is in final coordination,” Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman, a Pentagon spokesman, told Inside Defense Sept. 13.
The law states the commerce secretary can identify frequencies for auction “only if the secretary of defense has determined that sharing those frequencies with non-Federal users would not impact the primary mission of military spectrum users in the covered band.”
The frequencies in question are utilized by Navy S-band systems, such as the Aegis SPY volume search radar, critical for air and missiles defense as well as counter-drone detection.
Adm. Mike Gilday told lawmakers in April that 188 ships in the fleet would require modification if the service had to relocate current mid-band activities. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro estimated such relocation actions could cost more than $250 billion.
“It's a really difficult problem for us,” John Plumb, assistant secretary of defense for space policy, told House lawmakers March 8. “And so, we think that is the only viable way forward but is there some way to share so DOD can operate there so commercial companies might be able to use that as well without impeding on us.”
Advocates for the telecommunications companies note more than 50 countries have allocated the 3.1 to 3.45GHz spectrum -- which in the United States is used only by the Defense Department -- for full-power, licensed use for 5G development.
“U.S. policymakers must recognize the economic and national security aspects of [the] commercial wireless spectrum,” argues a white paper on the subject prepared by the global law firm DLA Piper. “Policymakers should identify ways to rectify the imbalance in U.S. mid-band allocations -- which currently favor federal, unlicensed, and shared use -- while U.S. commercial wireless licensed allocations increasingly fall behind rival nations and other countries.”
This mid-band spectrum is part of wide-ranging ramifications associated with the looming adoption of fifth-generation wireless technology networks -- being shaped in part by China -- that promise step-change improvements in data speed, volume and latency.
Hardware and software standards for this new wireless network -- which are beginning to come online -- promise significant improvements over the current 4G network established a decade ago.
In general terms, Western countries, along with Japan and South Korea, are developing systems for high-frequency bands while China is investing in low-frequency bands.
Spectrum is playing a key role in the operation, development and rollout of 5G which promises much higher peak data rates compared to 4G and LTE.
For instance, in 4G, as many as five 20 MHz channels can be bonded tighter; in 5G, the estimate is an order of magnitude higher -- up to five 100 MHz channels fused to enable speeds 20 times faster. As a result, for the full promise of 5G to be realized, telecommunications firms require significantly more spectrum to deliver a promised quantum-leap in capability.