White House Investing $100 Million in Government Spectrum Initiative

On June 14, the White House will announce a $100 million, multi-prong initiative to free up more government spectrum via spectrum sharing and spectrum efficiency that could also allow for relinquishing spectrum.

At the same time, the Administration is releasing a report promoting the advances and investment in broadband under the Obama Administration.

The new initiatives include a Presidential directive to federal agencies "to enhance the efficiency of their use of spectrum and make more capacity available to satisfy the skyrocketing demand of consumer and business broadband users." The memorandum creates a White House-based Spectrum Policy Team to oversee implementation and make further recommendations. The President is also pledging $100 million in R&D support. By September, the National Science Foundation will award $23 million in spectrum-sharing research and development grants and DARPA will announce the first of a planned $60 million in contracts for federal spectrum sharing efforts over the next five years. The National Telecommunications & Information Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology will spend another $17.5 million on spectrum and advanced communications research and to encourage more public-private collaboration.