A newly released progress report goes over the state of federal users’ transitions out of auctioned bands ranging from AWS-1 to CBRS and additional midband spectrum at 3.45-3.55 GHz.
The annual Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act report for 2021 was released earlier this month by the Department of Commerce and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). For some of these federal users, final transition out of the band is taking a decade or more, plus millions of dollars per year in ongoing expenses to relocate operations and achieve “comparable capability” to their previous operations.
The report update covers spectrum auctioned as far back as AWS-1 in 2006, and it not only updates the transition efforts of federal users, it lays out the cumulative amounts spent on moving out of the band and achieving comparable capability afterwards.
Those numbers have real-world implications for future spectrum planning and auctions, because they offer a glimpse into the actual amount of time and money that it takes to clear a band. Some bands, it is clear, are far more expensive and time-consuming to clear or share than others, particularly as time goes on. Since the federal government is the larger holder and user of spectrum, the willingness and capability of existing users to move or change operations in the band (and the federal government’s ability to cover the costs, or even potentially provide incentives for them to do so) is more crucial than ever as commercial network operators, new and existing satellite users and additional players jockey for increasingly congested spectrum and try to figure out how they are going to deliver not only the promise of 5G, but establish future 6G systems that will also need large amounts of spectrum.
The report updated the status of the following bands:
-For AWS-1 at 1.710-1.755 GHz, a dozen federal agencies have completed their transition off that spectrum, but the Department of Energy “continues to expend funds toward achieving comparable capability” 17 years after the AWS-1 auction, the report said. That spend totaled $5.7 million in fiscal year 2021, and the total cumulative costs have been $1.36 billion.
-The 2015 AWS-3 auction update covers two regions of the band. At 1.695-1.710 GHz, there are still five federal agencies which have indefinite sharing arrangements in the band and received $33.7 million last year from the Spectrum Relocation Fund, with the cumulative outlay for that portion of the band being $254.3 million.
Meanwhile, at 1.755-1.780 GHz, the report says that two federal agencies are still transitioning their spectrum use, and nine agencies are still spending money on achieving comparable capabilities (another eight agencies have achieved both). For the fiscal year 2021, that meant $440 million in relocation spending—and the Department of Justice was also approved for an additional $293 million to complete its transition. The cumulative cost has been $2.27 billion, and the original NTIA cost estimates for relocation and sharing were more than $4.5 billion.
The report says that full transition by the remaining agencies is expected in 2025.
-More recently, spending and annual review has begun for federal users of the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) shared band at 3.55-3.65 GHz. Nearly $19 million was spent in the 2021 fiscal year on the operations of five Department of Defense agencies who share that band. The total expected cost for relocation and sharing on a comparable-capability basis is slightly more than $98 million, and the report says that all affected agencies have already completed the transition to the sharing of the band.
-While the 3.45-3.55 GHz auction did not take place until October 2021 and the official transition out of the band has yet to begin, five DoD agencies have already received around $67 million in pre-auction planning funds, plus another $15.34 million in transition-related outlays. NTIA has estimated that the total relocation and sharing costs for the band are $13.43 billion; the auction raised more than $22.5 billion in gross proceeds.
Access the full progress report here. Read more about limitations on commercial operations, coordination zones and sharing with federal users in this piece.
Looking for more information on 5G spectrum and RF issues in 4G/5G networks? Check out our recent webinar featuring Anritsu and LitePoint, and download the free accompanying editorial special report.
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