Industry Group Looks to Prompt More Midband Spectrum Sharing from DoD

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(Image credit: National Spectrum Consortium)

The National Spectrum Consortium, made up of hundreds of companies with a vested interest in freeing up more wireless spectrum, has launched an effort to work with the government to do just that.

The consortium has launched the “Partnering to Advance Trusted and Holistic Spectrum Solutions (PATHSS) Task Group,” whose goal is to collaborate with the Department of Defense to find more midband to share.

Also Read: 3.45-GHZ Auction Tops Reserve Price

The Federal Communications Commission is currently auctioning 100 MHz of midband spectrum the Defense Department identified in the 3.45 GHz band as bandwidth it could free up or share, provided there were sufficient interference protections.

The new task force is looking for similar help in the 3.1-3.45 GHz band in particular.

The task force is open to any consortium member, a laundry list that includes universities, tech companies, consultants and many more — as well as any government officials. A subset of the group will be established that will have access to classified information so they can get a sense of DOD's needs.

NSC task forces generally come up with recommended practices, studies and reports and other input for standards bodies or regulators.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.