NTIA's Strickling: Looking at All 95 MHz Was Most Responsible Recommendation

Appearing on C-SPAN’s The Communicators, National Telecommunications & Information Administration chief Larry Strickling says that some government users are going to have to remain in the 95 MHz of spectrum NTIA has identified for use by commercial wireless.

"We just don't have places to move the federal agencies to any longer," he said, citing the increasing government demands for spectrum as the reason for emphasizing spectrum sharing. He pointed out that federal use is intermittent and sometimes does not involve the entire country. Strickling said that given the opportunity to put 95 MHz of spectrum on the table, it would not have met the administration's goal of trying to free up 500 MHz had it just focused on the lower 25 MHz. The wireless industry and the FCC would probably have preferred it start with that 25 MHz since it is adjacent to a block of available FCC-overseen spectrum it could have been paired with and gotten to market relatively quickly. Strickling said going the 25 MHz route would have been an "irresponsible way to proceed" with federal agencies talking about being willing to accommodate commercial users in all 95 MHz and a goal of 500 MHz. Strickling is predicting that spectrum freed up under the NTIA proposal would be available within five years.