David J. Redl, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information at the Department of Commerce https://www.doc.gov and Administrator for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) https://www.ntia.doc.gov, presented his ideas and thoughts at the Mobile World Congress Americas meeting. The U.S ongoing efforts to set the stage for a 5G world was one of the main points discussed.
According to Assistant Secretary Redl, the Administration’s goal is to ensure that the U.S continues to lead in technology and telecommunications. Actions are underway to make critical spectrum policy decisions but also make networks more secure and resilient against cyberattacks.
The first step in moving to 5G is to ensure that there is sufficient access to spectrum. NTIA is coordinating with the FCC https://www.fcc.gov, other federal agency partners, and with industry to repurpose federal spectrum for commercial use whenever it is feasible to do so.
NTIA is always looking for new bands to study and trying to implement sharing approaches that will make spectrum use more efficient. The federal agencies realize that there is a need to have a mix of low and mid-band and millimeter-wave spectrum resources available for 5G as well as for ongoing 4G services and other broadband wireless needs.
The Assistant Secretary gave details on the “MOBILE NOW Act” which requires NTIA with the FCC to identify 255 megahertz of spectrum below 8 GHz for licensed and unlicensed mobile or fixed broadband wireless use.
The MOBILE NOW legislation includes the need to promote easier siting of communications facilities on federal lands. Congress has also directed NTIA to improve the national broadband map to show and address some of the existing gaps in broadband availability particularly in rural areas.
So far in developing the map, NTIA’s broadband team is beginning to acquire the tools needed to begin data collection. NTIA is looking to partner with industry and other government agencies and hopes to create a scalable platform and develop a phased approach to a new national broadband map.
The Assistant Secretary said, “He realizes how important security is for development of 5G networks. He recommends that standards be set to further protect supply chains from software and device vulnerabilities. The Department of Commerce has made major progress over the past two years on security related to the Internet of Things.
The Department of Commerce is now working on a draft roadmap of actions that the government and private stakeholders can take to make the networks more resilient. The Department recently launched a new multi-stakeholder process focused on the transparency of software components. To further discuss the topic a meeting to include IoT manufacturers, security experts, and other IoT stakeholders will be held in Washington D.C on November 6, 2018.
In other news on the infrastructure front related to developing a dedicated reliable wireless network for first responders, the First Net Authority (FirstNet) https://www.firstnet.com with their partner AT&T, are building the first ever public safety broadband network.
Since the beginning of 2018, AT&T has deployed an initial 1,000 sites along with mobile cell sites and has signed up more than 2,500 public safety agencies. More than 150,000 devices are now using FirstNet services and there are more than 20 mobile apps available to subscribers in the FirstNet App Catalog.