New Spectrum-Sharing Effort

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

This summer, the White House and the Pentagon announced that the Defense Department was open to sharing spectrum between 3.45 to 3.55 GHZ, a band previously reserved for exclusive military use. A new Request for Information shows the Pentagon is open to sharing further spectrum sections.

The US Defense Department’s RFI refers to “innovative solutions and alternative approaches to enable [dynamic spectrum sharing] within the department’s currently allocated spectrum with the goal of accelerating spectrum-sharing decisions and 5G deployment.” The Pentagon is considering owning and operating its own fifth-generation wireless networks to support its domestic operations under a new dynamic spectrum-sharing effort.

The DOD is looking for industry partners in order to find out how it could own and operate 5G networks for its domestic operations? What are the potential issues with DOD owning and operating independent networks for its 5G operations? Are there new technologies or innovative methods as to how additional mid-band spectrum currently allocated to DOD can be made available for 5G faster?

The Pentagon is already working with mobile networking companies through its 5G prototyping program. The pending prototypes include spectrum sharing, smart warehouses, augmented reality training and other 5G use cases, according to insidedefense.com.