Telecom companies ask for spectrum specifics as government representatives say 'stay tuned'

Recent telecommunications conferences have yielded one consistent disconnect – between wireless carriers seeking details about future spectrum allocations and government representatives offering vague assurances of better bandwidth to come. Consider the quizzing of Scott Blake Harris, senior spectrum advisor and director of national spectrum strategy at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, at ForumGlobal's 12th Americas Spectrum Management Conference in Washington on October 10. When asked about the National Spectrum Strategy study that the Biden administration had set in motion in March 2023, Harris provided zoomed-out answers. "I think we're going to exceed the objective of finding spectrum to study," he said. "I think we will find more than 1500MHz of spectrum to study in the near to medium term." He didn't speculate how much spectrum all those studies might eventually liberate for carrier use.