Two retired senior military officials on Wednesday urged collaboration between the wireless industry and the DOD on opening the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands for licensed use. While the U.S. “has been the established global leader in wireless, a new technology superpower -- China -- is emerging with astonishing speed,” said Mike Rogers, a retired U.S. Navy admiral and former director of the National Security Agency, and Bruce Crawford, retired lieutenant general and former Army chief information officer. “Both our military and commercial sectors need access to spectrum -- but today our national spectrum policies are struggling to keep up with critical needs,” they said in a Stars and Stripes essay. The lower 3 and 7/8 GHz bands align “with our allies around the globe and should be our priority,” they added. “We should explore all opportunities for full-power commercial access to these bands while ensuring that the needs of federal missions are fully met.” In addition, DOD needs clear direction and a schedule of auctions from the FCC, Rogers and Crawford wrote: “Too often our military is forced to respond to band-by-band spectrum access requests without any global view of the policy objective or insight into when or where the next request will be received. That is not how the military works.”
Exports to China
The House Commerce Committee unanimously advanced the Future Uses of Technology Upholding Reliable and Enhancing Networks Act (HR-1513) and three communications equipment security measures Wednesday, as expected (see 2403190062). Also on the agenda: the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act (HR-820), Countering CCP Drones Act (HR-2864) and Removing Our Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security Act (HR-7589). HR-820 would require the FCC to publish a list of communications companies with agency licenses or other authorizations in which China and other foreign adversaries’ governments hold at least a 10% ownership stake (see 2210250067). HR-1513 would direct the FCC to establish a 6G task force that provides recommendations about ensuring U.S. leadership in developing that technology’s standards. HR-2864 would add Chinese drone manufacturer Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) to the FCC’s covered entities list. HR-7521 would direct the Commerce Department to “specify what transactions involving routers, modems, or devices that combine a modem and a router are prohibited” under a 2019 executive order by then-President Donald Trump’s that barred transactions involving information and communications technologies that pose an “undue risk of sabotage to or subversion of” U.S.-based communications services (see 1905150066). “China poses a serious threat to America's national security across the board, including to our critical communications infrastructure,” said House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., during the committee meeting. “We know that the [Chinese Communist Party] will utilize every tool at its disposal to exploit vulnerabilities in our communications networks, which is why this committee has taken decisive action in these areas. Failure to address these exceedingly complex threats not only jeopardizes our economic competitiveness and national security, but also risks ceding ground to an adversarial power intent on undermining American leadership.” The four bills “will help protect American networks from security threats, while also allowing our country to remain a global leader in communications technology,” said panel ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J. He singled out HR-1513, which “will help us understand the potential risks to best protect our networks and strengthen the technologies designed.”
The House on Wednesday unanimously approved TikTok-related legislation that would ban data brokers from transferring “sensitive” U.S. information to “foreign adversaries” such as China. Meanwhile, the Senate Commerce Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee are planning a joint hearing about their legislative options.
The American Action Forum questioned how the U.S. really fared during last year’s World Radiocommunication Conference. “Delegations from across the world largely adopted China’s spectrum approach in the mid-band, allocating the upper part of the 6 GHz band for 5G services,” a report released Tuesday said. Jeffrey Westling, director-technology and innovation policy, is its author. While the U.S. has allocated the entire 6 GHz band for unlicensed use, actions at the last WRC may keep other countries from following the U.S.’s lead, it said. “Countries don’t have to allocate the band for 5G but can’t allocate spectrum in a manner that would cause harmful interference to 5G operations in neighboring jurisdictions,” the paper said: “Equipment manufacturers will have less incentive, and potential profit, in designing and manufacturing additional unlicensed equipment that operates in the upper portion of the band, as fewer countries will allow the use of that technology.” The U.S. struggled to persuade nations to adopt its approach “because it lacks a robust plan to commercialize spectrum in the mid-band for exclusive licenses, shared models, or even more unlicensed,” the paper argues: “Leading into the conference, the only mid-band spectrum teed up for commercialization was 3.1–3.45 GHz, and the DOD pushed back on efforts to allow commercialization of the band,” and without auction authority the U.S. “lacked stability in spectrum policy, perhaps concerning potential allies that desired a robust plan for mid-band.”
Etherstack urged the FCC to give FirstNet control of the 4.9 GHz band, noting that it’s well suited for 5G (see 2401190067). Part of the wider 4.4–5.0 GHz band was identified for international mobile telecommunications in several countries, and all of it is included in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project standard for 5G technologies, the software company said in a Monday filing in docket 07-100. 5G networks are deployed in the band in Japan, China and Hong Kong and private 5G in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, Etherstack said. “There are plans/consultations for the use of this spectrum band in a range of countries including Brazil, India, Indonesia and Vietnam,” the company said: “Importantly, Australia has also recently designated the 4.9 GHz band as a public safety band which can be used for cellular technology.”
Stopgap funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program is not included in an FY 2024 appropriations “minibus” package Congress is aiming to approve this week, several lobbyists told us Tuesday. The omission also makes it doubtful congressional leaders attached an additional $3.08 billion for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, lobbyists said. Advocates of both programs were pushing for their funding in the minibus (see 2403150063) as recently as last weekend. The White House and Capitol Hill reached a deal on FY24 funding for the FCC and most other agencies over the weekend; they reached a final agreement on the bill Monday night.
The Senate Commerce Committee needs to meet with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the Senate Intelligence Committee before deciding on potentially marking up TikTok-related national security legislation, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters Thursday (see 2403130039).
The FCC is investigating the extent to which U.S. mobile devices are still processing signals from China’s BeiDou, Russia’s GLONASS and other foreign adversaries’ global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told reporters Thursday. House China Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., pressed the FCC on the item earlier this week (see 2403120073). The FCC’s investigation includes all major U.S. device suppliers, including Apple, Google, Motorola, Nokia and Samsung, a commission spokesperson said. FCC commissioners unanimously approved a voluntary cyber trust mark program based on National Institute of Standards and Technology criteria during their meeting Thursday (see 2403140034).
The House Communications Subcommittee unanimously advanced the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act (HR-820), Future Uses of Technology Upholding Reliable and Enhancing Networks Act (HR-1513) and two other anti-China communications security bills Tuesday. House China Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., meanwhile, is pressing the FCC on whether it will act on reports that mobile devices in the U.S. are still processing signals from China’s BeiDou and Russia’s global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).
The House will vote Wednesday on legislation that would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless Chinese parent company ByteDance divests the popular social media app, an aide for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., confirmed Tuesday.