The Federal Communications Commission proposed to reallocate spectrum in the 1675-1680 MHz band for shared use between incumbent federal users and new, non-federal flexible-use wireless operations. The 1675-1680 MHz band currently is used for weather forecasting services. But for several years spanning two Administrations, the President’s budget proposals have called for this band to be auctioned for flexible use, subject to sharing arrangements with federal weather satellites. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted takes the FCC’s first step toward accomplishing that task. It proposes to reallocate the 1675-1680 MHz band on a co-primary basis for terrestrial fixed and mobile (except aeronautical mobile) use on a shared basis with existing federal users, and it seeks comment on appropriate service and technical rules for the band.

The FCC also seeks comment on how to implement a sharing framework that would create opportunities for commercial operations in this band while also protecting incumbent federal users. Finally, the FCC asks about possible alternative methods of providing access to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather data to other

David Redl, assistant secretary for communications and information in the Commerce Department, abruptly resigned, days after criticizing US 5G policy in a speech. Redl, who headed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, had clashed with Trump administration colleagues over a range of issues related to 5G rollout, including federal policy for allocating airwaves. The conflicts within the Administration occasionally had played out on Capitol Hill in recent weeks. Then in a speech on May 6, Redl took the unusual step of openly criticizing US policy on 5G, saying the government’s process for allocating airwaves was becoming hopelessly bogged down by the battles. “Our current approach of piecemeal, band-by-band spectrum policymaking is not sustainable,” he said in prepared remarks. “The opportunities are drying up and it is an inefficient process that too often devolves into a zero-sum game.”

Michael Platt, who was assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the Commerce Department, also resigned this week. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross thanked the two men for their service and wished them well.

Again, and again, I’ve heard that when people live in areas unserved and underserved by broadband networks, businesses are hard-pressed to start, grow, or stay there. Without the economic development and individual prospects enabled by competitive, advanced, and affordable broadband, people will find it harder to secure good-paying jobs, get training for future positions, or seek higher wages. The link between broadband and local economic growth reminds me of the railroads, which makes sense in a way because today, May 10^th, is the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Remember that Abraham Lincoln was a railroad man. He ran for president pledging to build the first railroad that would link the East and West Coasts. Once in office, he put the weight of his presidency behind the passage of the Pacific Railway Act of 1862, which supported construction of that transcontinental railroad with government loans and grants of land. In succeeding decades after the Golden Spike was driven, the transcontinental railroad re-worked the American economy. Railroads were reliable and fast, lowering the cost of shipping, which boosted manufacturing.  As a consequence, goods were cheaper and consumer choices greater. And the nation was transformed as a result — its commerce, its laws, its business arrangements, its settlement, even the way it told time.

[Jonathan Sallet is a Benton Senior Fellow]

House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-OH)  sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai urging the agency to closely examine the security of fifth-generation (5G) infrastructure and technology as part of the newly rechartered Communications Security, Reliability and Operability Council (CSRIC), CRSRIC VII. “As our U.S. network operators, from the largest to the smallest, gear up for significant infrastructure buildout for 5G and other advanced technologies, security should be a critical consideration and associated rules and regulations should be as clear as possible.”