National Telecommunications and Information Administration
head Larry Strickling told the House Small Business Committee that it should be
finished with its agency-by-agency survey of possible spectrum sharing between
the government and private industry by January.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) prompted Strickling's timetable by
asking for his and Genachowski's thoughts about the benefits of clearing vs.
sharing.
That came in a hearing on the impact of broadband on small
businesses, Strickling said NTIA had been dealing with some 30 different
government agencies and over 3,000 separate government spectrum allocations as
it looked for ways to free up spectrum for mobile broadband per the President's
order to find 500 MHz in the private and government sectors within the next
decade.
NTIA oversees government spectrum use much as the FCC does
private, and has been working with the FCC to find spectrum.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who also testified at the
hearing, said that clearing as well as sharing must be part of the equation.
Strickling made the point that if the government had to clear all the spectrum
it freed up, which would include finding new homes for all those agencies and
allocations, it would take 10 years and $18 billion. He said that was too much
time and money, which was why sharing "was the path we need to go."
