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500 MHz Initiative

A 2010 Presidential Memorandum directed the Secretary of Commerce, working through NTIA, to collaborate with the Federal Communications Commission to make available a total of 500 megahertz of Federal and nonfederal spectrum over the next 10 years for mobile and fixed wireless broadband use.

This initiative, to nearly double the amount of commercial spectrum, will spur investment, economic growth, and job creation while supporting the growing demand by consumers and businesses for wireless broadband services.
 

Related content


Enabling Smart Cities with Infrastructure and Policy

May 20, 2016

The 2016 GCTC Expo, convened by NIST and US Ignite, will showcase GCTC Action Clusters and feature speakers and panelists on a wide range of smart city topics. Experts from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and NTIA's Institute for Telecommunication Sciences will host a panel to discuss how they’re leading cutting-edge research on spectrum sharing and interference, helping communities expand their broadband infrastructure, and developing policies that foster innovation.

Joint statement following the Biannual Spectrum Planning meeting on Friday, April 1, 2016, between FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling

The Chairman and the Assistant Secretary met and discussed spectrum planning and management priorities. The Chairman reported that the Commission began the incentive auction this week. They discussed the FCC and NTIA’s collective work to identify and prioritize opportunities to increase spectrum availability, including for 5G and other innovative uses.

New Report Outlines Possible Roadmap to Further Sharing of the 3.5 GHz Band

April 1, 2016

As we work to meet the President’s goal of making 500 megahertz of additional spectrum available for commercial wireless broadband, it has become clear that spectrum sharing will need to be part of the solution to meeting spectrum demand. Accordingly, NTIA is examining ways to improve the technology that would enable greater spectrum sharing between federal and nonfederal users.

In a new report released today, engineers from NTIA’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) and Office of Spectrum Management (OSM) propose a simple and robust method to implement spectrum sharing between commercial communications systems and federal radar operations  in the 3550-3650 MHz (3.5 GHz) band.

Basic geometry of the reciprocal-propagation monitoring approach
Click to enlarge

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