Executive order directs sharing of Federal spectrum within ten years

Citizen surveillance has been headline news for several days, but something just happened under the radar that may be more important in the long run. The President issued an executive order with a list of actions to be taken by federal agencies and offices to "accelerate shared access to spectrum."

This did not happen over night -- it was preceded by a couple years of research and politicking -- here are two key milestones:

• In July 2012, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) issued a report calling for the use of smart radios in sharing federal spectrum.
  
• In May 2013, The President appointed Tom Wheeler, who had been an Invited Expert on the PCAST report, to head the FCC.

If you are interested in this topic, you should check the executive order and the post announcing it. We are venturing into new political and technical territory here, and The President has also authorized $100 million to fund research on spectrum sharing.

No doubt AT&T et al will do their best to thwart this effort as they were able to derail the attempt to create competition by way of the 1996 Telecommunication Act. They may win this battle too, but if they don't, we may be using some interesting technology within the next decade.