Public Knowledge President Calls for More Spectrum Sharing

In San Diego for the Federal Communications Commission's field hearing on the National Broadband Plan, Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge said it will be "extremely difficult, if not impossible" to free up more spectrum to be used solely by wireless services. The problem, she said, is that most of the spectrum that would have value to industry is controlled by the Defense Department and Federal Aviation Administration. It will "prove politically difficult" to reallocate that spectrum, she added, noting that today spectrum that was supposed to have been cleared by government users from a 2003 auction still is "bogged down and underutilized." Sohn said, "We believe that it will be impossible to convince government to abandon the spectrum it controls, and that the better course is for the FCC, working with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, to promote shared use of federally controlled spectrum." She proposed a four-point policy program, saying the FCC should: 1) complete its white spaces proceeding, 2) ask for public input on the possibility of variable power for white spaces devices in rural areas for fixed and backhaul services, 3) confer with NTIA to determine how best to promote the shared use of spectrum controlled by the federal government; and 4) urge Congress to pass the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act.