National Broadband Plan calls for charging agencies for spectrum use

In its National Broadband Plan delivered to Congress on Monday, the Federal Communications Commission proposed that agencies pay to use radio spectrum to maximize its potential for commercial use -- a suggestion one federal telecommunications executive called "absurd."

FCC's plan also calls for reallocating spectrum the Defense Department uses to manage satellites and to communicate with unmanned aerial vehicles and Army troops to commercial wireless broadband systems.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration manages federal use of spectrum, and FCC suggested in the spectrum chapter of its plan that Congress should allow NTIA to charge government agencies for spectrum that they currently use for free.

The proposal would introduce market efficiencies to federal spectrum use and help spur the development of commercial broadband wireless services, FCC argued.

The Technology Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, estimated in 2009 that about 23 percent of the nation's spectrum between 3 MHz to 3 GHz is allocated exclusively to federal agencies.

FCC said imposing a fee "may help to free spectrum for new uses such as broadband, since licensees who use spectrum inefficiently may reduce their holdings once they bear the opportunity cost of spectrum."

But the commission said the charge "must avoid disrupting public safety, national defense and other essential government services that protect human life, safety and property, and must account for the need to adjust funding through what can be lengthy budgetary cycles."

FCC backed up its recommendation with an example from the United Kingdom, where the commission's counterpart, the Office of Communications, has imposed a user fee on government and commercial spectrum holders, including the Defense Ministry. Government now include spectrum costs in business cases for major programs, which has resulted in unneeded spectrum being transferred to other uses, FCC said.

The proposal to charge agencies for spectrum is "absurd on its face," said Bernie Skoch, a retired Air Force general with extensive experience in military communications who is now a consultant based in Arkansas. "Why should the Defense Department be charged for the spectrum it needs for its constitutionally defined mission?"

He said the National Broadband Plan implies Defense and other agencies do not use the spectrum they have been assigned efficiently and assumes that much of the spectrum is dormant. But "spectrum is the lifeblood of communications, and when we go to war, it should be there" for use by the military, Skoch said.

FCC also wants to auction off to commercial carriers the spectrum in the 1,755-1,850 MHz band, which Defense uses, pending a study that FCC and NTIA plan to complete in October.

Skoch said multiple Defense systems currently operate in this band, and shifting them to another band will involve huge engineering costs to redesign equipment such as antennas and develop new waveforms.

In its most recent Strategic Spectrum Plan sent to NTIA in 2007, Defense officials said they viewed the 1,755-1,850 MHz band as "vital for command and control, mission data retrieval, and maneuvering of its many satellites in all orbits from low Earth to geostationary."

The Marine Corps also uses the band for its Digital Wideband Transmission System, which supports ground troops and ship-to-shore operations. It is "the only transmission media available to the Marine Corps with sufficient bandwidth to carry large quantities of critical data such as maps, overlays, intelligence pictures and other data to the battlefield commanders," Defense noted.

Skoch said the band also is used for UAV operations and for the Joint Tactical Radio System's new Rifleman Radio that is under development for infantry units.

Defense did not respond to a request for comment by the time this article was posted.