Op-Ed: Another Federal Agency Gets Blame for Spat Between FCC & FAA

This was originally published by Real Clear Policy on January 28, 2022. 

At the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this month, attendees pointed fingers at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for the current dispute over 5G by other federal agencies. But other observers argue the entire issue is much ado about nothing.

John Godfrey, senior vice president of public policy for Samsung, said at CES that the NTIA (a division of the Department of Commerce) should essentially be the traffic cop in the dispute between the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over whether the latter’s use of C-band spectrum for 5G could create safety hazards for airplanes. The FAA argues that use of that spectrum could affect altimeter readings and issued a rule in December that restricts more than 6,800 aircraft from using automated flight systems in low visibility.

“I think it’s their job as the leaders of telecom policy in the administration to facilitate bringing the full federal government to the table in a timely manner,” Godfrey said of NTIA, Broadband Breakfast reported.

A panel discussion of 5G at CES said the issue should have been resolved two years ago when the FCC first proposed repurposing some of the communications band for wireless use. Godfrey said the time for the FAA’s complaints was before, not after, the FCC auctioned off the spectrum for $80 billion and deployment was already starting to roll out.

“The time to have that information be disclosed and discussed and analyzed is when the FCC is conducting the rulemaking,” Godfrey said.

Asad Ramzanali, legislative director for Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) called the ongoing argument a “failure in government.”

“When there’s a process, those impacted should be participating – that is the role of the NTIA,” he said.

Ramzanali added that while the coordination is harmed by the fact that Congress took so long to approve President Biden’s nominee for director of NTIA, Alan Davidson. Ramzanali said that NTIA has blundered at that job for many years.

Brent Skorup, senior research fellow at Mercatus Center, told the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) that Congress hasn’t given NTIA a lot of teeth to even act in these situations.

“NTIA is nominally responsible, but the reality is that agencies don’t show a lot of deference to NTIA,” he said, adding that these agencies have their own departments that study spectrum issues and possible safety effects.

Skorup said, and as TPA pointed out recently, federal agencies don’t have a history of playing nice when it comes to sharing spectrum, from the FAA to the Department of Defense to the Department of Education. Skorup believes the FAA is being overly cautious in this instance.

“The FCC has competent engineers,” he said. “They’ve researched this issue for years and they don’t see it as a safety issue.”

As TPA previously noted, nearly 40 other countries already allow 5G to operate in the C-band without any known complications.

Johnny Kampis is director of telecommunications policy for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.