FCC Launches “Spectrum Dashboard” in Beta

March 17, 2010

WASHINGTON: The day after releasing its National Broadband Plan, the FCC unveiled a Web site listing spectrum licensees across the country. This new “Spectrum Dashboard” is in beta, but the idea is to reveal to which entities radio frequencies are licensed in each U.S. municipality. The initial version, released Feb. 17, covers licensees in frequencies between 225 MHz and 3.7 GHz, “the range of spectrum potentially usable for mobile broadband,” the FCC said.

TV stations are allocated spectrum between 54 and 72 MHz for Chs. 2-4, 76 and 88 MHz for Chs. 5 and 6; 512 and 608 MHz for Chs. 21-36; and 614 and 698 as well as partial blocks higher up in the spectrum.

The Spectrum Dashboard site produces the requested data in various forms, e.g., maps, bands, names or license category. A map search will yield license holders in a given area. Los Angles, for example, lists 97 spectrum licensees. Among them, AT&T has 10, Clearwire, a fixed wireless provider, has eight; Verizon Wireless has eight; T-Mobile, four; Sprint Nextel, two; MetroPCS, two; Qualcomm, two; satellite operators phone service providers hold eight; broadcast TV accounted for 26; the remainder were various communications providers.

The various data forms also feature sorting by license type, including 700 MHz, Advanced Wireless Service, Broadband Personal Communications Service; Broadband Radio Service; Educational Broadband Service; Cellular; 2.3 GHz Wireless Communications Service; Full Power TV Broadcast; and Mobile Satellite Services.

“The Spectrum Dashboard will increase transparency into how radio spectrum is being used in the United States,” the FCC said. “In conjunction with the release of the National Broadband Plan, the Spectrum Dashboard provides a resource for stakeholders who want to participate in the deployment of wireless broadband throughout the nation.”

The site is at http://reboot.fcc.gov/reform/systems/spectrum-dashboard.