During a speech at the Federal Communications Bar Association, NTIA Director Lawrence Strickling said the recommendation is included in a report for freeing up spectrum that is being reviewed by Obama administration officials. The plan is aimed at helping the administration meet a five-year goal, included in the FCC's national broadband plan, for freeing up 500 megahertz of spectrum for wireless broadband technologies.

Strickling said the report, which will provide more detail on freeing up spectrum to meet the administration's goal, is working its way through the interagency evaluation process and would be released "soon."

Of the spectrum recommended by NTIA for reallocation, 100 megahertz is held by the Department of Defense and used primarily for radar systems for naval vessels. The additional 15 megahertz recommended for reallocation is held by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and used for weather balloons and satellites. Strickling said the agency also examined another chunk of spectrum in the 1755 band that has been attractive to industry, but he said the spectrum is being used be several federal users and will need to be examined more closely to see if it can be reallocated for commercial use.

If the NTIA recommendations are accepted, it will be up to the FCC to implement them, Strickling noted.

Strickling acknowledged that the spectrum recommended for reallocation is not "prime real estate." He added that "when we can identify spectrum that is suitable for wireless broadband and made available with minimal disruption, we think it's important ... to put it into the bank so industry knows there will be spectrum available in the future."

After the speech, Strickling told reporters that "more and more" federal spectrum users will have to find new ways to share spectrum, saying the days when big chunks of prime spectrum could be auctioned off for commercial use are gone. He also stressed the need for research and development into ways to make better use of existing spectrum.

The drive for additional spectrum is being pushed by the growing consumer demand for new wireless devices such as smart phones, e-readers and tablet computers. The FCC released a report Thursday that found there will be a shortage of spectrum of as much as 300 megahertz in the next five years.

"Additional spectrum is not only essential for the wireless industry, it is vital in meeting the needs of hundreds of millions of wireless customers," AT&T Senior Vice President Robert Quinn said in a statement. "More wireless spectrum will also support economic growth and job creation at an important time."

The FCC's spectrum forecast found that "the amount of mobile data demanded by American consumers is likely to exceed capacity of our wireless networks in the near-term."

Driving the demand for spectrum is growth of the mobile technologies such as smart phones, tablet computers and e-books like the iPad and Kindle. The paper estimates that mobile broadband traffic will increase by 35 times the amount of recent levels.

Spectrum is the "oxygen of our mobile communications infrastructure," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said, emphasizing the importance of meeting the growing demand.
The value of this exploding spectrum market is about $120 billion, the paper found.

The paper was released in conjunction with a spectrum summit held Thursday at the FCC. Forecasting spectrum is far from an exact science, Morgan Stanley telecom analyst Simon Flannery said at the event, calling it something of a "dark art."

The first item will be a notice of proposed rulemaking for implementing spectrum incentive auctions in anticipation of Congress approving such a measure. The incentive auction rule would explore a licensing framework to allow for channel sharing.

A notice of proposed rulemaking to expand experimental spectrum licensing will be the second item. The goal of this proposal is to accelerate innovation and reduce the amount of time it takes for an idea to "get from the lab to the market," Genachowski said.

The chairman noted that under traditional avenues, it can take six to 13 years to repurpose spectrum licenses.

The third item up for discussion at the November meeting is a notice of inquiry to accelerate the "opportunistic" uses of spectrum. This is an attempt to advance the use of secondary markets for spectrum through dynamic leasing, among other measures.

The High Tech Spectrum Coalition applauded the FCC for supporting voluntary incentive auctions as a means of bringing more spectrum to market. The HTSC counts the Consumer Electronics Association, the Information Technology Industry Council and the Telecommunications Industry Association, among their members.

Genachowski's remarks came at a spectrum summit held at the FCC Thursday.

The FCC supports an auction, as do some members of Congress, including the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee. The FCC's proposal calls for using the proceeds from the D-block auction to help fund the creation of the public safety communications network.

Weiser's remarks came at a forum convened by the Brookings Institution about the "looming shortage of wireless spectrum." Much of the shortage is due to a growing demand for wireless broadband.

Weiser said it's unclear whether the nation's ability to meet spectrum demand is hindered more by red tape or actual scarcity. Part of the issue, Weiser noted, is that nobody knows how technology will evolve.

Adele Morris, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that government control of spectrum has created "a mismatch between supply and demand."

President Obama holds a noon science fair at the White House to honor the achievements of students' work in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. The event is part of the administration's Education to Innovate campaign

Wednesday
The Brookings Institution will host a 2:00 pm forum on the looming spectrum shortage. Featured speakers include Phil Weiser, a Senior Advisor on technology and innovation at the White House, and Steve Sharkey, chief of engineering and technology policy at T-Mobile.

Thursday
The FCC will host a spectrum summit highlighting the economic and social importance of solving the spectrum crunch for mobile broadband.

LockHeed Martin hosts a "Technology and Innovation Media Day." The event features exhibits and hands-on demonstrations based on the company's cutting-edge technologies. Ray O. Johnson, LM's chief technology officer, will be present.

The American Intellectual Property Law Association will host David J. Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, as the keynote speaker for a luncheon meeting. The AIPLA annual meeting runs from October 21-23.

Friday
The Technology Policy Institute hosts a half-day event on "Antitrust and the Dynamics of Competition in High-Tech Industries." Featured speakers include Carl Shapiro, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics, DOJ and Joseph Farrell, Director of the Bureau of Economics, FTC.

During a forum on broadband regulation, Daniel Sepulveda, a senior adviser to Senate Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., said he did not think Congress will act on the issue during its post-election lame duck session expected to take place in mid-November.

The FCC has proposed auctioning off the chunk of spectrum known as the D-block to a commercial bidder and using the proceeds to help finance the creation of the public safety network. It also has proposed giving public safety official different spectrum than the D-block for the network and allowing first responders priority access to roam on commercial networks during emergencies.

Public safety officials say the FCC plan is insufficient and would not provide them with enough spectrum for a public safety network. They also argue that the quality of the D-block spectrum is better suited for their needs. They have been pushing lawmakers to pass legislation that would re-allocate the D-block spectrum to them.

Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., has introduced a bill that would re-allocate the D-Block of spectrum to public safety officials and direct the FCC to establish standards that allow public safety officials, when not using the network, to lease capacity on a secondary, but preemptible basis, to commercial users or others.

Both Democrats and Republican leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee favor the FCC's approach. "There was consensus in the House that the best approach is to auction it and use the money to build a public safety network," Neil Fried, senior counsel to the House Energy and Commerce Republican staff. He added that in the absence of legislation redirecting the D-block to public safety officials, the FCC is "required under current law to auction it."

Tim Powderly, a Democratic senior counsel to the Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee, said despite the differing approaches being pushed by the House and Senate, Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., "is committed to finding a successful way forward on this."

Her announcement gave a significant boost to legislation introduced by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., in July that would give public safety officials a valuable band of spectrum known as the D-block.

The FCC has instead proposed an auction of the airwaves to a commercial bidder, with auction proceeds dedicated to help pay for the creation of a public safety network. A network has been long sought by first responders since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks exposed the inability of emergency agencies to communicate with each other.

"Nine years after September 11, we should be ashamed that [first responders] lack a nationwide, interoperable wireless broadband communications system," Rockefeller said at a committee hearing on his bill.

Hutchison's expressed support for allocation of the D-block was balanced by an interest in exploring the viability of a commercial partnership. She asked witnesses at the hearing if a pre-emptive clause giving first-responders priority over a commercial network would be sufficient to meet their needs.

Public safety officials testifying said it would fall short.

Read more here (subscription required)

On a 5-0 vote, the FCC took final action to approve the use of "white spaces" for wireless broadband applications, which could include much faster and more robust Wi-Fi service and enabling smart grid technologies.

"This new unlicensed spectrum will be a powerful platform for innovation. And as we've seen time and again, when we unleash American ingenuity, great things happen," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said.

The order approved by the FCC eliminated a requirement that devices that check-in with a geo-location database also include sensing technology to ensure they will not interfere with television stations and other licensed spectrum holders.

The FCC also appears to have rejected a request by broadcasters that devices check-in several times a day with the geo-location database. A coalition of technology and Internet firms and public interest groups voiced concern that such a requirement could overload the system and hamper effective use of white space spectrum.

"We're glad to see that the FCC appears to have rejected calls to enact burdensome and unnecessary constraints that would have made it more difficult to deploy useful technologies on these airwaves," Google Washington Telecom and Media Counsel Rick Whitt said in a blog post. "Instead, the commission has put forward common-sense rules that will help encourage innovation, while fully safeguarding incumbent signals from interference."

Senate Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., also praised the white-spaces order, saying it "is a critical step towards a robust wireless future that will benefit all Americans."

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who also sits on the Commerce Committee, said the order would help bring broadband access to those who continue to lack access to it. "The 'white spaces' spectrum provides an opportunity to reach these Americans and further bridge the 'digital divide' that unfortunately continues to exist today," she said in a statement

The National Association of Broadcasters, which filed a lawsuit in 2009 to block the white spaces order, offered a muted response to the FCC's action. "NAB's overriding goal in this proceeding has been to ensure America's continued interference-free access to high quality news, entertainment and sports provided by free and local television stations," NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said in a statement. "We look forward to reviewing the details of today's ruling."

Wharton said Wednesday that the NAB would proceed with its lawsuit, which has been on hold pending the FCC's action.

Public safety officials oppose the FCC's proposal, included in the national broadband plan, to build a national broadband network for public safety using 10 megahertz of spectrum from the FCC along with additional spectrum public safety officials already control. The proposal follows a failed effort in 2008 by the FCC to auction off the D-block of spectrum to a commercial bidder willing to enter into a public-private partnership with first responders. In the broadband plan, the FCC has called for auctioning off the D-block of spectrum to a commercial bidder and using the auction proceeds to help fund the creation of the public safety network.

Public safety officials oppose this proposal because they say 10 megahertz is not enough spectrum and have called on Congress to pass legislation reallocating the D-block for the public safety network. They say the quality of the D-block spectrum is better suited for their needs.

Public safety officials led by a coalition known as the Public Safety Alliance will make another push on Capitol Hill Thursday for D-block legislation. In addition to a holding a news conference outside the Capitol, a handful of public safety officials from around the country will be testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee in support of a bill offered by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va. His bill would re-allocate the D-Block of spectrum to public safety officials and direct the FCC to establish standards that allow public safety officials, when not using the network, to lease capacity on a secondary, but preemptible basis, to commercial users or others.

The FCC issued a white paper this summer that claimed that its proposal, which also calls for giving emergency first responders priority access to roam on commercial networks during emergencies, is sufficient to meet public safety needs.

In his prepared testimony for Thursday's Commerce hearing, Ken Zdunek, a spectrum and technology consultant hired by wireless provider T-Mobile to do a study on the feasibility of the FCC's proposal, endorsed the FCC's claims included in its white paper.

The commission, the European Union's regulatory arm, approved three proposals Monday aimed at helping the EU meet its goal of ensuring its citizens have access to basic broadband by 2013 and "ultra-fast" broadband by 2020.

The proposals include approval of a commission recommendation that requires EU member state telecom regulators to adhere to a common approach related to access to high-speed fiber networks that aims to encourage investment while safeguarding competition. For example the commission recommends that before considering price regulation, telecom regulators consider the investment risks and low rate of return such investments may currently receive. In addition, regulators also are urged to select "access remedies" that encourage market entry and infrastructure based-competition and "light touch" regulation in competitive markets.

The second proposal calls on the European Parliament and European Council, which is made up of representatives from EU members states, to establish a five-year program aimed at promoting more efficient management of spectrum and ensuring there is enough spectrum available for wireless broadband by 2013.

The commission also adopted a broadband communication outlining a consistent approach EU member states should take to meet the EU broadband goals. The communications provides "guidance on how to cut investment costs and indicates how public authorities may support broadband investment, including making better use [of] EU funds." In addition, the proposal notes that the commission will be developing with the European Investment Bank broadband financing proposals.

"These measures will help to ensure that Europeans get the first-class Internet they expect and deserve, so that they can access the content and services they want," Neelie Kroes, the commission's vice president for the digital agenda, said in a statement.

While nearly a quarter of European households get broadband, only 1 percent have high-speed fiber connections to their homes, compared with 15 percent of South Koreans and 12 percent of Japanese, the commission noted.

The FCC is set to adopt a final ruling Thursday allowing for the use of spectrum "white spaces" for wireless broadband technologies. Representatives from the Wireless Innovation Alliance said they are pushing the FCC not to impose onerous rules on the use of the spectrum that would make it too difficult to take full advantage of white spaces.

Among the potential rules that the alliance and others say they do not expect the FCC to impose would be spectrum sensing requirements that the alliance said would increase the cost and complexity of technologies aimed at utilizing white space spectrum. Other issues of concern to the alliance include what type of protections will be offered for wireless microphones.

"The technical details really do matter," Google Senior Policy Director Rick Whitt said during an alliance conference call.

In a letter Tuesday to President Obama, CTIA President Steve Largent called on the administration to push Congress to provide the NTIA with the funding it needs to identify additional spectrum to help meet the FCC's goal set in its national broadband plan of freeing up 500 megahertz of spectrum for mobile broadband over the next decade. Largent also urged the administration in its fiscal year 2012 budget plan to propose adequate funding for the NTIA to do this job.

Obama issued a presidential memorandum in June affirming his administration's commitment to meeting the FCC's 500 megahertz goal. One of the more controversial proposals outlined by the FCC for finding more spectrum includes urging broadcasters to voluntarily relinquish some of their spectrum.

"With your leadership, the spectrum allocation goals outlined in the FCC's national broadband plan can become a reality that benefits consumers, improves federal communications capabilities, creates jobs, boosts the economy, and achieves all of these objectives in a fiscally responsible manner," wrote Largent, a former GOP House member from Oklahoma.

"An important first step in that effort is ensuring NTIA has the resources it needs in order to accomplish the spectrum planning and management activities that will be critical to realization of the spectrum vision articulated in the national broadband plan."

The FCC is set to vote Thursday on a final rule allowing for the use of white spaces for "unlicensed broadband wireless devices."

In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif., urged him to "ensure a variety of technologies, including smart grid applications, are able to utilize this spectrum to advance our nation's clean energy needs."

They note that advances in technology can allow consumers to monitor their energy use in real time. Electrical utilities also could benefit from having access to white spaces, they added.

"Utilities will be able to better manage outages, reduce peak demand and gain more control over the decisions concerning resources," Eshoo and Matsui wrote, adding that it also could eventually allow for automatic meter reading and consumer alerts on energy outages.

Broadcasters, however, have voiced concern with the white space proposal and have been pressing for changes that would ensure there is no interference with broadcast channels.

That fateful day exposed dangerous lapses in the ability of first responders to communicate across agencies and jurisdictions in a crisis -- glitches that have not been fully corrected nearly a decade later.

"The inability to communicate was a critical element at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Somerset County, Pennsylvania crash sites, where multiple agencies and multiple jurisdictions responded," the 9/11 Commission warned in its report -- six years ago.

"Nine years after the terror attacks of 9/11, the safety of our first responders continues to be jeopardized by a fragmented allocation of communications spectrum," House Homeland Security ranking member Peter King emphasized in a statement to CongressDaily.

The New York Republican has introduced legislation with 68 co-sponsors that would set aside an additional 10 megahertz of spectrum known as the "D-block" for the planned network, doubling its capacity. "By allocating the D-block spectrum for public safety we will make sure that police, firefighters and other emergency workers have the most advanced voice, video and data technology," he pledged.

But rancor over spectrum allocation is set to intensify next week when Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller plans to hold a Sept. 23 hearing on a companion bill that also would divert this additional spectrum to first responders. To read more, click here. (Subscription required)

The frequencies - known as the D-block - are adjacent to 10 MHz that public safety groups already control. But moving the bill in the next few weeks would require the backing of key members, including Senate Commerce ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

"Senator Hutchison has not taken a position on the Rockefeller bill or the allocation of spectrum to public safety," a spokesman said. "She has instructed staff to examine both sides of the issue in anticipation of an eventual hearing on this issue." The network, considered long overdue, has been the focus of wrangling in Washington for years.

For more information on the debate over the D-block, and a last-minute effort by T-Mobile and other carriers to resurrect plans by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to auction the frequencies, read the latest edition of Wired in Washington.