National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)

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NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION (NTIA)

Few Americans know of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). But to the extent that they use radio, television, cell phones, computers, and the Internet, or watch public television, listen to public radio, or travel by plane, the agency has a great impact on everyone's life. The NTIA, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, serves as the principal advisor to the President on telecommunications and information policy in both domestic and international affairs—the sole federal body that deals exclusively with these questions. Its 280 employees work out of two locations, the agency headquarters on Washington D.C., and the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, its laboratory in Boulder Colorado.

The NTIA was created by an act of Congress and an Executive order that combined the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy (OTP) and the Department of Commerce's Office of Telecommunications in 1978. The post of Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, responsible directly to the Commerce Secretary, was created at the same time to head the new office. The mission of the NTIA is the promotion of an efficient telecommunications infrastructure that will contribute to the economic welfare of the American people and enhance American competitiveness abroad. Another task the agency describes as key is "to ensure that government does not obstruct private sector innovation and the rapid deployment of telecommunications technology."

A number of specific responsibilities fall to the NTIA. It acts as an advisor to the President on developing and implementing domestic and international telecommunications policy. In this context, the agency frequently works with other agencies of the executive branch on issues that affect telecommunications. For example, it has worked closely with the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission on problems connected with the increasing concentration of ownership in the media and telecommunications industries.

On the international front, the NTIA develops and presents U.S. viewpoints at conferences on communications. It advocates the adoption of liberalized, deregulated telecommunications policies by foreign governments. For example, following the World Trade Agreement on basic telecommunications services of 1997, the NTIA worked with American negotiators to ensure that the nearly 70 other signatories understood the mechanisms of liberalization and enforcement contained in the Agreement. The agency also represents the interests of the Defense Department and the American business community in negotiations with foreign governments over the radio spectrum.

One of the NTIA's most important duties is overseeing the federal government's use of the radio spectrum. In this regard its activities parallel those of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the public-commercial broadcasting sector. The NTIA is responsible for assigning frequencies to governmentwned users of the radio spectrum, in particular the Defense Department and the Federal Aviation Administration. The NTIA also cooperates with the FCC in the formulation of a coherent, unified "spectrum management vision." The agency also participates in policy for the development of the nation's communications satellite system.

The NTIA administers the Technology Opportunities Program which awards grants to projects intended to promote and expand the availability of digital telecommunications technologies. For example, there are grants to support the expansion of the Internet into urban and rural locales with lower than average access, in particular schools and libraries. Other grants, such as the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program, support the changeover of the public television network from analog to digital technology, which is required to take place by 2006, as well as the availability of affordable phone and cable service for all Americans. Finally, through its Colorado laboratory, the NTIA actively develops new telecommunications technologies.

During its existence, the NTIA has been involved with a variety of important issues in the telecommunications and information technology field. It was the first agency to propose in 1989 the introduction of "spectrum auctions," at which broadcast frequencies would be awarded through a competitive bidding process, a procedure eventually adopted by the FCC. Later it helped develop a system of electronic auctions.

As the new century begins, the NTIA was busy responding to the explosion in wireless communication technologies, such as cell phones, by studying ways of allocating frequencies to private mobile communications companies that balance the needs of the public with those of national security. It was conducting research into ultra-wideband technology as a communications medium, and attempting to find ways to avoid possible interference with the global satellite positioning system used by the telecommunications industry and the defense sector while issuing as many licenses for the use of ultra-wideband frequencies as possible to private companies. Finally, although it has not released an official policy, the NTIA is looking at ways to bring broadband technologies and high-speed Internet access to as broad a segment of the population as possible.