Federal Register:
Notice of Public Meeting of the Spectrum Management Advisory Committee

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
           
National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee Meeting

AGENCY:  National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Department of Commerce (DOC)

ACTION:  Notice of Open Meeting

SUMMARY:  This notice announces a public meeting of the Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (Committee).  The Committee provides advice to the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information on spectrum management matters.

DATES:  The meeting will be held on February 8, 2008, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
 
ADDRESSES:  The meeting will be held at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, 325 Broadway, Room 1-1103/05, Boulder, Colorado 80305. Public comments may be mailed to Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 1401 Constitution Avenue N.W., Room 4725, Washington, DC 20230 or emailed to spectrumadvisory@ntia.doc.gov.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Stark, Designated Federal Officer, at (202) 482-1880 or estark@ntia.doc.gov; Joe Gattuso at (202) 482-0977 or jgattuso@ntia.doc.gov; and/or visit NTIA’s web site at www.ntia.doc.gov/.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background:  The Secretary of Commerce established the Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (Committee) to implement a recommendation of the President’s Initiative on Spectrum Management pursuant to the President’s November 29, 2004 Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on the subject of “Spectrum Management for the 21st Century.” ¹  This Committee is subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C. App. 2, and is consistent with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Act, 47 U.S.C. § 904(b). The Committee provides advice to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information on needed reforms to domestic spectrum policies and management to enable the introduction of new spectrum-dependent technologies and services, including long-range spectrum planning and policy reforms for expediting the American public's access to broadband services, public safety, and digital television. The Committee functions solely as an advisory body in compliance with the FACA.

Matters to Be Considered: The Committee will receive recommendations and reports from its Technical Sharing Efficiencies subcommittee and Operational Sharing Efficiencies subcommittee.  It will consider matters to be taken up at its next meeting.  It will also provide an opportunity for public comment on these matters.

Time and Date:  The meeting will be held on February 8, 2008, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. These times and the agenda topics are subject to change.  Please refer to NTIA’s web site, http://www.ntia.doc.gov, for the most up-to-date meeting agenda.  
                                               
Place:  U.S. Department of Commerce,  Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, Room 1-1103/05, 325 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80305. The meeting will be open to the public and press on a first-come, first-served basis.  Space is limited.  Due to security requirements and to facilitate entry to the building, anyone wishing to attend must contact Joe Gattuso at jgattuso@ntia.doc.gov or  (202) 482-0977 at least fifteen (15) days prior to the meeting in order to provide the necessary clearance information.  When arriving for the meeting, attendees must present photo or passport identification and/or a U.S. Government building pass, if applicable, and should arrive at least one-half hour prior to the start time of the meeting.  The public meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities.  Individuals requiring special services, such as sign language interpretation or other ancillary aids, are asked to indicate this to Mr. Gattuso.

Status:  Interested parties are invited to attend and to submit written comments.  Interested parties are permitted to file written comments with the Committee at any time before or after a meeting.  If interested parties wish to submit written comments for consideration by the Committee in advance of this meeting, they should be sent to the above listed address and received by close of business on February 5, 2008, to provide sufficient time for review.   Comments received after February 5, 2008, will be distributed to the Committee but may not be reviewed prior to the meeting.  It would be helpful if paper submissions also include a three and one-half inch computer diskette in HTML, ASCII, Word or WordPerfect format (please specify version).  Diskettes should be labeled with the name and organizational affiliation of the filer, and the name of the word processing program used to create the document.  Alternatively, comments may be submitted electronically to spectrumadvisory@ntia.doc.gov.  Comments provided via electronic mail may also be submitted in one or more of the formats specified above.   

Records:  NTIA is keeping records of all Committee proceedings.  Committee records are  available for public inspection at NTIA’s office at the address above.  Documents including the Committee’s charter, membership list, agendas, minutes, and any reports are or will be available on NTIA’s Committee web site at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/advisory/spectrum.

Dated: December 27, 2007.

Kathy Smith,
Chief Counsel, National Telecommunications and Information Administration

¹  President’s Memorandum on Improving Spectrum Management for the 21st Century, 49 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 2875 (Nov. 29, 2004) (Executive Memorandum).