Spectrum Policy and National Security Are 'Deeply Intertwined,' Trusty Says
FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty told the Mobile World Congress this week that the FCC’s “Delete” proceeding remains a key focus for the agency. She said that as a former Senate staffer, she understands that making more spectrum available for carriers is a national security issue. Commissioner Anna Gomez noted that the FCC has a lot of work to do to move forward on spectrum auctions. Trusty and Gomez didn't attend the conference because of the federal government shutdown, but both offered recorded remarks.
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The Delete proceeding “is more than just a regulatory cleanup,” Trusty said. “It’s a competitive necessity. Around the world, governments are moving aggressively to advance national wireless strategies, and we can’t let outdated regulations hold back American companies from winning the next generation of wireless innovation.”
“Other nations have made 5G and 6G part of their industrial and military strategies,” Trusty added. As a former staffer on the Senate Commerce and Armed Services committees, “I’ve seen firsthand how communications policy and national defense policy are deeply intertwined.”
As the administration implements the spectrum provisions in the reconciliation package, the FCC and the NTIA “must work hand in hand to ensure that any federally held spectrum is repurposed efficiently, transparently, and with full regard for critical national security missions,” Trusty said.
“Now that the FCC’s auction authority has been restored, Congress gave us a lot of work to do,” Gomez said. The agency needs to ensure that “all participants in the wireless marketplace have the opportunity” to access the spectrum they need.
Gomez also said she’s pleased to see that the wireless and airline industries are collaborating on the upper C band (see 2510030037). “One thing that I enjoy about spectrum policy is that it is an ongoing consensus-building exercise,” she said. “If we want the technology to work, at some point, we all have to reach an agreement that we honor in good faith.”