News and Events

“Twenty years ago today President Clinton signed the 1996 Telecommunications Act into law, removing regulatory barriers for our nation’s communications companies and fueling investment in broadband networks.  Since this time, we have witnessed an incredible transformation of our communications landscape.  As we look forward to the future, we must continue to support innovation and economic growth by strengthening competition and the free flow of information.  In today’s fast-changing digital economy, multistakeholder processes are the most nimble and effective means for addre

Keynote Address of Lawrence E. Strickling
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information
Silicon Flatirons Conference on the Digital Broadband Migration:
The Evolving Industry Structure of the Digital Broadband Landscape
Boulder, Colorado
January 31, 2016

—As Prepared for Delivery—

WASHINGTON —A report issued today by the U.S. Department of Commerce recommends amendments to copyright law that would provide both more guidance and greater flexibility to courts in awarding statutory damages. The recommended amendments would ensure continued meaningful protection for intellectual property while preserving the dynamic innovation that has made digital technology so important to the American economy.

Remarks by Lawrence E. Strickling
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information
State of the Net Conference
Washington, D.C.
January 25, 2016

—As prepared for delivery—

Remarks of Alan Davidson

Director of Digital Economy

U.S. Department of Commerce

January 21, 2016

MMTC Broadband and Social Justice Summit

Intergovernmental Leaders Luncheon

Westin Georgetown

Washington, D.C. 

—As Prepared for Delivery—

This post is part of our “Spotlight on NTIA” blog series, which is highlighting the work that NTIA employees are doing to advance NTIA’s mission of promoting broadband adoption, finding spectrum to meet the growing demand for wireless technologies, and ensuring the Internet remains an engine for innovation and economic growth.

The 67 students at Silverton School, nestled in the mountains of Colorado’s San Juan County, are returning from winter break to an abundance of new educational resources.

The students of Silverton School
(click to enlarge)

Since its creation in 2004, the Spectrum Relocation Fund (SRF) has served as an important tool supporting federal agency efforts to make more spectrum available for commercial use. The fund reimburses agencies for some of the costs they incur for repurposing the spectrum they use in performing critical missions on behalf of the American people, opening the door to commercial access to the spectrum.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced today it is proposing new rules to guide its review of fees that the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) may assess pursuant to its statute. The framework is intended to enable FirstNet to operate in a competitive marketplace, giving it the flexibility it needs to meet its business and budgetary goals.

Angela Simpson
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information
PLI/FCBA Telecommunications Policy & Regulation Institute
Washington, D.C.
December 3, 2015

–As Prepared for Delivery –

Even at the epicenter of the high-tech revolution, there are digital haves and have-nots.

NTIA hosted a broadband workshop last week at the Computer History Museum in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. And the take-away was this: the state that gave us semiconductor chips, Internet search engines and smartphones faces the same digital divide challenges as the rest of the nation.

In an important step to making more spectrum available for commercial use, NTIA’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) recently launched a new online site that enables commercial entities and federal agencies to coordinate spectrum use in the 1695-1710 MHz band, one of three bands recently made available by auction for Advanced Wireless Services (AWS). The new NTIA portal fulfills an important requirement to enable sharing in the 1695-1710 MHz portion of this prime spectrum. 

Remarks of Lawrence E. Strickling
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information
Internet Governance Forum
João Pessoa, Brazil
November 10, 2015

–As Prepared for Delivery–

This is part of a series of blogs highlighting how federal agencies use spectrum to carry out important missions for the American people.

This blog post was cross-posted at NASA’s website.

We all rely on clocks to figure out when to leave for work, go to school and to do a myriad of other activities that make up our daily lives. But how we keep track of time on those clocks is a subject of debate among the nations of the world. Most countries use the international standard time scale called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NTIA’s sister agency, maintains the UTC time scale in the United States.

This post is part of our “Spotlight on NTIA” blog series, which is highlighting the work that NTIA employees are doing to advance NTIA’s mission of promoting broadband adoption, finding spectrum to meet the growing demand for wireless technologies, and ensuring the Internet remains an engine for innovation and economic growth.

As computers become smaller, faster, and more affordable, they are transforming nearly every aspect of American life, giving us access to millions of digital books, songs, and movies. And machines — from phones to cars and even medical devices — are smarter, safer, and more efficient thanks to computers and the software that powers them. With these advances come important policy questions, including how best to simultaneously promote innovation and the free flow of information while protecting intellectual property.

Testimony of Douglas Kinkoph, Associate Administrator, Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications, NTIA, before the Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation, United States Senate on Removing Barriers to Wireless Broadband Deployment.

“The Assistant Secretary and the Chairman met and discussed a range of issues including the FCC and NTIA’s progress in meeting President Obama’s goal of making 500 megahertz of additional spectrum available for wireless broadband by 2020. They noted that they are nearly half way to meeting the President’s target and agreed that identifying the remaining parts of 500 megahertz before the end of the Administration remains a high priority.

Remarks of Lawrence E. Strickling
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information
Digital New England Summit
Portland, Maine
September 28, 2015

—As Prepared for Delivery—