US budget request includes US$72m for the NTIA

The US President’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget calls for increased funding to modernise that country’s spectrum management system, improve the security of its telecommunications infrastructure and upgrade advanced communications research.

As part of an overall budget request for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of US$72.2 million, US$25 million would be spent to modernise the spectrum management system to accommodate advanced technologies.

According to an NTIA statement, with these resources it would be able to “create a secure, flexible, and automated spectrum management system that would improve with the integrity and confidentiality of data; reduce ‘white space’ between spectrum assignments; reengineer business processes; and automate workflows”.

The budget request also would add US$3 million to the Advanced Communications Research program at the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, the NTIA’s research lab, and be used to replace equipment used for research and testing of 5G technologies to help the US transition from 4G LTE.

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