Technical Feasibility of Sharing Federal Spectrum with Future Commercial Operations in the 3450-3550 MHz Band

As part of an assessment conducted with the Department of Defense, NTIA significant progress in finding potential spectrum sharing options for the 3450-3550 MHz band. Federal operations in the 3450-3550 MHz band include shipborne, airborne, and land-based systems — primarily radars. Our report points to a clear possibility for real time spectrum sharing that would protect these critical missions, while providing attractive opportunities for commercial business. The report analyzes the potential for these federal systems to share spectrum with outdoor base stations, indoor access points, and mobile user equipment. The report assesses two hypothetical commercial deployments, operating at various power levels, which industry has said would be desirable. The next step would be to study how often each of the federal systems actually is used, and then develop mechanisms for reliably informing commercial operations when federal systems are operating nearby. This 100 MHz of spectrum should be well suited for realizing 5G’s promise of higher throughput and lower latency operations. The band could be a valuable resource for commercial deployment, given its position adjacent to the Citizens Broadband Radio Service spectrum at 3550-3650 MHz where widespread new deployments are expected soon.