Keeping with
the "spectrum day" theme in Washington, National Telecommunications
& Information Administration chief Lawrence Strickling said
Thursday NTIA has turned up 115 MHz of spectrum from government
users that can be reclaimed for wireless broadband use.
NTIA oversees government spectrum use.
That
announcement came the same day the FCC announced the rule change
proposals to help it recover 300 MHz of spectrum within five years,
including about 120 MHz from broadcasters. The FCC and NTIA
are working together to find 500 MHz for wireless broadband over the
next 10 years.
Strickling,
speaking at a Federal Communications Bar Association luncheon, pointed
out that the President had required NTIA to report back by Oct.
1 on where more spectrum could be found. Through what he called a
fast-track analysis, NTIA was able to find 115 MHz to reallocate from
the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (15 MHz from
spectrum used mostly by weather satellites and balloons)
and the Defense Department (100 MHz from spectrum used for naval
radar).
That will
not require moving any of the current users of the bands, he said, which
is different from the FCC's plan for broadcasters, who will have to
give up, move off of, or share, some of their
spectrum.
NTIA also
indentified another band with potential spectrum to reclaim, but since
it is used for altimeters on commercial aircraft, it will need
international
regulatory approval, which he said could not happen at the earliest
until 2016.
