New Report Proposes Six Steps to Improve Federal Usage of Spectrum

WASHINGTON— The federal government controls large portions of spectrum at the most desirable bands for wireless services, and it’s inefficiently using the so-called “beachfront” spectrum while leaving less available for private uses, according to a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy.

The upcoming and necessary extension of the Federal Communications Commission’s auction authority presents an opportunity for new spectrum legislation to pass through Congress; ITIF calls on policymakers to take six steps to improve the federal government’s use of spectrum.

“Wireless services have become increasingly essential to daily life—and often to the safety of life,” said Joe Kane, co-author of the report and director of broadband and spectrum policy at ITIF. “The federal government’s inefficient spectrum holdings are squandering precious bandwidth and hampering the growth of the wireless economy that is increasingly important to connect all Americans to beneficial applications.”

The report examines the current size of the federal government’s spectrum holdings and breaks down why the government lacks the incentives to use spectrum as efficiently as possible. The report recommends the following six steps to improve federal spectrum usage:

1. Congress and the Office of Management and Budget should reform the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act (CSEA) by removing the provision that limits how the Spectrum Reallocation Fund can be used and widening the scope of activities that the CSEA covers.
2. Policymakers should auction more overlay licenses to create profit opportunities for those who can persuade federal agencies to vacate some spectrum by paying for relocation, upgrading equipment, or otherwise protecting the incumbent use.
3. The federal government should reduce its spectrum footprint by increasing the quality of its receivers.
4. The federal government should reduce its spectrum footprint by migrating bespoke services to commercial 5G networks wherever possible.
5. Congress should require administrative pricing for spectrum consumed by federal agencies.
6. The executive branch should take a more active role in managing agencies’ spectrum use, both through better accounting for the costs of federal uses and by making increasing commercial spectrum capacity a high-level priority.

The report notes that the incentives in private markets result in resources flowing toward more productive uses. The federal spectrum users lack these incentives because their spectrum is unpriced, and they do not profit from the efficiency of their services. According to the report, this absence of market prices and profit incentives undermines the federal government’s ability to improve its use of spectrum.

“There are good reasons for the federal government to have access to spectrum,” said Kane. “Everything from weather satellites to military radar relies on reliable access to radio frequencies, and we all want these systems to work well. But it’s important to recognize how the current system of federal spectrum holdings undermines the incentives for more efficient use. Disrupting the government’s current incentives with more virtuous ones is the key to a more balanced and productive spectrum ecosystem.”

Read the report.