In judging whether to allocate new wireless services, government spectrum regulators like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have typically deferred to worst-case arguments by incumbents. Such an approach has many flaws. First, there are many causes and consequences of Radio Frequency (RF) interference, and representing them by single values for extreme cases isn’t representative. Second, interference parameters take on a range of values, and a single-value analysis doesn’t take the distribution of their probabilities into account. Third, a single-value, worst-case analysis is likely to be overly conservative, with the result that the full value of spectrum use rights is not realized.
The alternative approach of quantitative risk assessment broadens regulatory analysis from just “What’s the worst that can happen?” to “What can happen, how likely is it, and what are the consequences?” Such techniques have been used for decades by other regulators, including those responsible for safety-of-life decisions such as Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
This conference will explore what lessons spectrum managers, especially regulators like the FCC and NTIA, can learn from the use of quantitative risk analysis in other regulated industries. It will also map out how risk-informed interference analysis should and could be used in spectrum policy going forward.
The conference will be anchored by three keynote speeches by leading figures in risk assessment and spectrum policy, each followed by a moderated discussion and a closing keynote.
A report on this conference by Jeff Ward-Bailey is available. (pdf)
Sessions
Welcome
- Phil Weiser
Hatfield Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School - JP de Vries
Director Emeritus and Distinguished Advisor, Silicon Flatirons
Session 1: Risk Analysis in Engineering and Public Policy
- Tom Power — Moderator
Senior Vice President and General Counsel, CTIA-The Wireless Association - William Boyd — Commenter
Associate Professor of Law, University of Colorado - Francisco Zagmutt — Commenter
Managing Partner, EpiX Analytics - Gregory Rosston — Commenter
Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, SIEPR - Paul Fischbeck — Keynote
Professor, Social and Decision Sciences, Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
Break
Session 2: Risk-Informed Regulation
- Anna Gomez — Moderator
Partner, Wiley Rein LLP - Susan Fox — Commenter
Vice President for Government Relations, The Walt Disney Company - Giulia McHenry — Commenter
Former Senior Associate, The Brattle Group - Shawn Jackman — Commenter
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Clinical Mobility - Gary Marchant — Keynote
Director, ASU Center for the Study of Law, Science and Technology
Break
Session 3: Risk Analysis in Spectrum Policy
- Rob Alderfer — Moderator
Vice President, Technology Policy, CableLabs - Joan Marsh — Commenter
Vice President Federal Regulatory, AT&T - Peter Tenhula — Commenter
Deputy Associate Administrator for Spectrum Management, Office of Spectrum Management - Robert Weller — Commenter
Vice President of Spectrum Policy, National Association of Broadcasters - Julius Knapp — Keynote
Former Chief, Office of Engineering and Technology (retired), Federal Communications Commission