Federal Communications Commission	FCC 23-27

STATEMENT OF
CHAIRWOMAN JESSICA ROSENWORCEL

Re: 	Principles for Promoting Efficient Use of Spectrum and Opportunities for New Services, ET Docket No. 23-122; Promoting Efficient Use of Spectrum through Improved Receiver Interference Immunity Performance, ET Docket No. 22-137, Policy Statement 
(April 20, 2023)

Wireless spectrum is a scarce resource.  But when we put this limited resource to creative use, we can expand communications for all, foster innovation, and support our economic and national security.  Our history is full of examples of us doing just that.  It’s why in the United States our spectrum policies have long led the wireless world.  After all, it was nearly three decades ago that the Federal Communications Commission took the academic ideas of Ronald Coase and ushered in a whole new era of spectrum auctions.  We also pioneered the use of unlicensed spectrum—the airwaves we now know and use every day as Wi-Fi.  More recently, we blazed a trail for two-sided incentive auctions and dynamic spectrum sharing.  With each of these efforts, we took spectrum scarcity and turned it into abundance.  

We need to do it again.

Today, more of our civic and commercial life relies on wireless technologies than ever before.  Commercial spectrum bands are increasingly crowded.  This congestion is making it harder to make room in our skies for new technologies and new services.  But we have to find a way, because no one wants opportunity and innovation to grind to a halt.  We need smarter policies—policies that promote more efficient use of this scarce resource.  I’ve called it an abundance agenda.

That’s why one year ago, almost to the day, we launched our inquiry into wireless receiver performance.  We did so because we recognized that to date, most discussions of spectrum efficiency have been a one-way effort.  They focus almost exclusively on transmitters.  To avoid harmful interference, we typically have rules about how and when transmitters can operate.  

But wireless communications systems involve transmitters and receivers.  It’s a two-way proposition.  Both are vital.  Both matter.  

So today we begin to rethink our approach to spectrum policy and move beyond just transmitters to consider receivers, too.  That’s because receivers that are not sufficiently resilient can make it more difficult to introduce additional services in the same or adjacent airwaves.  They can diminish the spectral environment and shut out new uses before they even begin.  

There is too little in our existing spectrum policies that recognizes this truth.   

That’s where today’s Policy Statement comes in.  Drawing upon the work of the Commission’s Technological Advisory Council, this Policy Statement sets out nine principles to provide guidance on how we will approach questions of spectrum management going forward.  These principles are based on a recognition of the physical realities of interference, an expectation that responsibility for spectrum coexistence is shared on both sides of a communications system, and a firm belief in data-driven policy making.

At the same time, this Policy Statement recognizes that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to spectrum management and different systems and different use cases have different needs.  But this Policy Statement identifies a framework the Commission will seek to apply as we strive for greater efficiency and effectiveness in increasingly congested spectrum.

Finally, this is just a first step.  We will continue to review the record developed in last year’s Notice of Inquiry and will learn from our experience operating under this Policy Statement, as we consider further actions to once again turn spectrum scarcity into abundance.  I look forward to making progress. 

I want to thank Commissioner Simington, for his enthusiasm and work on this subject.  I also want to thank the staff who worked on this effort, including Edwin Abrazado, Damian Ariza, Bahman Badipour, Martin Doczkat, David Duarte, Miguel Gallegos, Michael Ha, Sayed Hasan, Ira Keltz, Matthew Miller, Paul Murray, Nick Oros, Bob Pavlak, Siobahn Philemon, Ron Repasi, Aniqa Tahsin, and Sean Yun of the Office of Engineering and Technology; Baron Chan, Tom Derenge, Madelaine Maior, Roger Noel, Blaise Scinto, Arpan Sura, Joel Taubenblatt, Jennifer Tomchin, Mary Claire York, and Janet Young of the Wireless Bureau; Jim Schlichting of the International Bureau; Zenji Nakazawa of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau; Jonathan Campbell, Even Kwerel, Paul Lafontaine, Cher Li, Kate Matraves, Giulia McHenry, Mark Montano, Don Stockdale, and Aleks Yankelevich of the Office of Economics and Analytics; and Deborah Broderson, Doug Klein, and Bill Richardson of the Office of General Counsel.