Spectrum: The pathway of the 21st century

As a Commissioner during the Trump administration, Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called out the disarray resulting from the lack of a national spectrum policy. “We are heading into our wireless future with something less than a fully coordinated effort,” she warned. The Biden administration has not repeated the failure to prepare with transition planning. “What we need to do is—and the president has been clear—is to step back and have a national strategy on spectrum, and look to make spectrum available from public and commercial uses,” the new Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo, told senators at her confirmation hearing. This is an especially important statement not only because she referenced the president’s commitment, but also because National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the focus of such efforts, is within her department. The responsibility of governing is a job of making decisions. The failure of the Trump administration to decide among various priorities to establish a national spectrum policy has left the nation rudderless. It now falls to the Biden administration to place a firm hand on the rudder and guide the nation into the spectrum-based future of communications.