Industry Group Looks to Prompt More Midband Spectrum Sharing from Department of Defense

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. The Federal Communications Commission is currently auctioning 100 MHz of midband spectrum the Defense Department (DOD) 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 to be established will have access to classified information so they can get a sense of the DOD's needs. NSC task forces generally come up with recommended practices, studies and reports and other input for standards bodies or regulators.