Five takeaways from Biden's new national spectrum strategy

The Biden administration today released its national spectrum strategy, which identifies 2,786MHz of spectrum across five bands for new uses, including 5G and 6G. It also sets up a process for releasing additional spectrum, developing new spectrum management techniques and preventing interference.

Specifically, the report points to spectrum in bands including the lower 3GHz band, the 7GHz band, the 18GHz band and the 37GHz band for possible commercial uses, from wireless broadband to satellite operations to drone management.

The release is an important one for the US wireless industry, which continues to argue that it does not have enough spectrum to keep pace with demand. According to those in the industry, those worries have been exacerbated by the progress other countries, including China, have made in freeing spectrum for commercial pursuits.

"Today is a key step towards the future spectrum auctions we need," wrote CTIA, the US wireless industry's primary trade association, in a reaction to the release of the plan Monday. "Failure to make this spectrum available risks America's economic competitiveness and national security."

"We hope this reallocation will help correct the midband spectrum imbalance that currently prioritizes unlicensed and federal uses – a disparity that fails to meet Americans' ever-accelerating demand for mobile connectivity and neglects licensed spectrum's place as the foundation of our wireless ecosystem," AT&T's Rhonda Johnson, EVP of federal regulatory relations, said in a reaction to the plan.

The release of the plan is also noteworthy because it has been a topic of discussion among federal regulators for years. President Trump signed a presidential memorandum in 2018 calling for the creation of a new national strategy for 5G spectrum – though he never followed through with the effort. Biden administration officials have been discussing the topic for years now. It's unclear what might happen to the new plan if Biden does not win reelection, though some analysts believe it could survive in a different administration.

Here are five takeaways from Biden's new plan:

1. It's evolutionary, not revolutionary

Biden's new national spectrum strategy mostly builds on efforts already underway. It also doesn't contain any real surprises, new strategies or new spectrum bands to develop.

Some Republicans took aim at that situation. "The Biden administration's much anticipated spectrum plan does not commit to making even a single MHz of spectrum available," wrote Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr – a frequent critic of the Biden administration's policies – on social media. "The administration's continued inaction on spectrum undermines US leadership and makes it harder to bring Americans across the digital divide."

But others offered a different perspective. "The big thing is the new processes for resolving interagency complaints," wrote Harold Feld, of public-interest group Public Knowledge, on social media. "This has been a root cause of nearly all the issues in spectrum policy over the last 5 or so years."

Indeed, the 5G industry suffered a very public black eye over concerns that transmissions in C-band spectrum could affect aircraft altimeters.

"We don't think the events of today should be thought of as anyone scoring a touchdown, but rather, moving the ball from one's own 20-yard line to the opponents' 40," summarized Blair Levin, a policy adviser to New Street Research and a former high-level FCC official, in a note to investors Monday.

2. It's pretty boring

Biden's spectrum plan focuses heavily on ensuring federal coordination around spectrum usage. Indeed, the 26-page plan from the NTIA uses the term "collaborate" almost 40 times.

"Establishing a new framework for collaboration will facilitate robust and regular dialogue and interchanges of data, building trust and transparency among all stakeholders," is one of the many windy statements in the plan that advocates unity and harmony among federal, academic and commercial entities.

Specifically, the plan positions the Commerce Department's NTIA – the White House agency in charge of advising the president on spectrum – to lead efforts to transition federal spectrum into commercial hands. And a Presidential Memorandum backs up that position with a new Spectrum Advisory Council alongside a dispute resolution process. It also stresses transparency and consistency.

But that kind of bureaucratic red tape, boring as it may be, appeared to be sorely lacking in the previous administration. For example, Rivada lobbyist and investor Karl Rove, a longtime Republican operative, petitioned Trump in the White House's Oval Office for a plan to use Rivada's technology to release Defense Department spectrum for 5G.

3. It makes no clear decision on the lower 3GHz band

The 5G industry has been clamoring for the US military to release part or all of the lower 3GHz band for 5G. That, according to players in the wireless industry, would allow 5G network operators to expand and increase their network capacity for services like fixed wireless access (FWA).

However, the US military currently uses that spectrum in part for radar, and by some estimates it would cost up to $120 billion to move Department of Defense (DoD) radar operations off the 3.1GHz-3.45GHz band in order to free it up for exclusive commercial 5G operations. Officials from the DoD, the 5G industry and others have been looking at the issue, but a report on whether and how to free up that spectrum for commercial uses has not been released publicly.

Biden's new national strategy takes no clear stance on that issue. "DoD determined that sharing is feasible if certain advanced interference-mitigation features and a coordination framework to facilitate spectrum sharing are put in place. The Departments of Commerce and Defense will co-lead any follow-on studies to the Emerging Mid-band Radar Spectrum Study (EMBRSS) that focus on future use of the 3.1-3.45GHz band. Additional studies will explore dynamic spectrum sharing and other opportunities for private-sector access in the band, while ensuring DoD and other Federal mission capabilities are preserved, with any necessary changes," according to the plan.

4. Sharing, and other spectrum management technologies, are encouraged

The lower 3GHz band probably won't be the only one where sharing will be discussed. 

"Next-generation Wi-Fi networks, large satellite constellations in low Earth orbit, rapidly increasing space launch cadences, aggregated data transfer requirements, 5G and 6G broadband networks, private wireless networks, autonomous vehicles, and other advanced systems drive demand," according to the NTIA's spectrum strategy. "Dynamic spectrum sharing is one key to meet these growing demands."

That's important considering the 5G industry has largely opposed spectrum sharing scenarios. Indeed, the CTIA has loudly argued that the sharing technology employed in the 3.5GHz CBRS band has not been successful – a claim that CBRS proponents have rejected.

But Biden's plan stops short of requiring sharing. Instead, it urges continued research into sharing and other spectrum management techniques that use technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

"Federal agencies will collaborate with industry, technology developers, and academia to encourage dynamic spectrum sharing through innovative technologies and techniques – including cloud-based spectrum management and AI-enabled methods," according to the Biden administration's memorandum. "NTIA will also pursue the development of a common spectrum management platform to manage shared access."

5. 6G is mentioned, but only obliquely

By necessity, Biden's spectrum strategy is broad. It must cover spectrum that's used for all kinds of applications, whether that's radar, drone control, satellite communications or Wi-Fi. As a result, it makes only a passing mention of 6G.

But that likely comes as little consolation to an industry hoping for a 6G boost amid its 5G doldrums.

"We're scraping the bottom of the barrel for spectrum now," wrote Mobile Experts analyst Joe Madden in a column about 6G for Fierce Wireless.

Madden argued that there's not much spectrum lined up for future 6G networks, which are expected to start arriving in 2028. As a result, early 6G operators may not have much additional network capacity to offer.

"We don't see any relief coming from a new standard or a new wideband channel. That means that without substantial use of unlicensed bands, changes in ARPU [average revenue per user], or a slowdown in data growth, the operators will be in trouble," Madden wrote. "One likely outcome here will be the end of the 'unlimited' plans."