The Interagency Process and Its Importance in Securing the Future of 5G

This paper aims to: 1) outline why the Federal Communications Commission is the appropriate authority to resolve commercial spectrum disputes; 2) outline how the interagency process works and the role the National Telecommunications and Information Administration plays in resolving issues with government spectrum incumbents; and 3) demonstrate the importance of coordination by reviewing a few recent examples of government agencies circumventing this interagency process and the problems that has created. The paper includes the following recommendations: a) respect the role and expertise of the FCC to thwart any further incumbrances to rolling out 5G expeditiously; and b) leverage the traditional interagency process by submitting all federal spectrum concerns to the NTIA as opposed to forging individual complaints. In the long term, Congress should consider whether to:

• update the Communications Act to codify the interagency process into statute akin to versions of the FCC-NITA MOU; 
• reauthorize the FCC’s spectrum authority for ten more years; and
• provide more funding to the FCC and NTIA to hire more engineering resources, including funding for more engineering labs.