Pentagon Agrees To Give Up Some Frequencies For New Wireless Devices

The plan is a victory for telecommunications companies that want a bigger piece of the airwaves to offer enhanced services such as streaming video and high-speed internet access to phones, handheld computers and other mobile devices.

The Defense Department had balked at giving up any of the frequencies it uses for military purposes, such as controlling satellites and guiding precision weapons.

Under the plan announced Tuesday, the Pentagon would give up two chunks of the spectrum, moving its uses to other frequencies by the end of 2008. The wireless companies that buy the rights to the Pentagon's former frequencies will pay for the transfer.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration decided that a third slice of the airwaves was too important to the Pentagon to free up for commercial wireless uses.

The wireless industry cheered the compromise.

"It is a clear win for the economy, a win for consumers and a win for national security," said Tom Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association.

Wireless companies have been pushing to free up a specific range of frequencies that other countries plan to use for advanced wireless features. That would make it possible for someone to buy a phone or other handheld device here and roam internationally with it.

But in the United States, most of the space in that band of frequencies is occupied by the military and used for such systems as satellite controls, aircrew combat training and precision weapons guidance. The Pentagon had resisted making the change, saying to do so would harm national security and take until 2017.

Steven Price, the Pentagon's top official on the issue, said in a statement Tuesday the military is satisfied with the compromise.

The plan gives the military enough time, and enough space elsewhere in the spectrum, to shift its key functions without hurting its fighting capabilities, Price said.

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