The National Telecommunications and Information Administration said today that it, the FCC, and other federal agencies “have made substantial progress” in meeting the Obama administration’s goal of freeing up 500 megahertz of additional spectrum for wireless broadband services by 2020. NTIA released a fifth interim progress report on meeting the 10-year spectrum identification and allocation plan.

The report, which covers Oct. 1, 2013, to Sept. 30, 2014, cited 80 MHz of spectrum made available, 207-309 MHz identified and in the process of being made available, 205 MHz being studied, and 955 MHz that may be studied in the future.

Among the successes cited in the report are the FCC’s AWS (advanced wireless services)-3 auction and efforts to make spectrum available in the 3.5 gigahertz and 5 GHz bands.

“NTIA and the FCC, together with the federal agencies in the PPSG [Policy and Plans Steering Group], are continuing to work diligently toward achieving the goals of the 2010 Presidential Memorandum through ongoing rulemaking proceedings and implementation of the Ten-Year Plan, applicable provisions of the Tax Relief Act, and the 2013 Presidential Memorandum,” NTIA said in the report. “Activities for the next twelve months will focus on transitioning the 1695-1710 MHz and 1755-1780 MHz bands to shared federal/non-federal use, promoting three-tiered shared access using a dynamic spectrum access system in the 3550-3650 MHz band while protecting federal radar operations, continuing work to identify sharing solutions at 5 GHz, and further refining the proposed Model City concept to promote innovative spectrum-sharing technologies. In addition, NTIA will work with the federal agencies to complete quantitative assessments of five frequency bands totaling 960 megahertz of spectrum.”- Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com