The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA): Budget, Programs, and Issues

The National Telecommunications and

Information Administration (NTIA):

Budget, Programs, and Issues

(name redacted)

Section Research Manager

February 26, 2008

Congressional Research Service

7-....

www.crs.gov

RS21469

CRS Report for Congress

Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Summary

For FY2009, the Bush Administration has proposed a budget of $19.2 million for NTIA, with this

money going towards administrative functions. There would be no funding under another NTIA

program, which supports public telecommunications facilities planning and construction. Under

the FY2008 enacted appropriation (P.L. 110-161) NTIA is funded at $36.3 million, which was

$3.3 million below the FY2007 enacted and $17.7 million above the President’s request. There

are two major components to the NTIA appropriated budget (a third program, which is a

revolving fund based on spectrum auctions, is discussed below). The first is Salaries and

Expenses. For FY2008, the Bush Administration recommended $18.6 million; Congress approved

$17.5 million for FY2008. In the past, a large part of this program has been for the management

of various information and telecommunications policies both domestically and internationally.

For the second NTIA component, the Public Telecommunications and Facilities Program

(PTFPC), the Bush Administration has requested that this program’s funding be eliminated,

arguing that most of the construction and refurbishing of public telecommunications facilities has

already been done, and that any remaining support that is needed should come from local public

broadcasting entities. However, for FY2008, Congress disagreed, citing the ongoing need for

upgrading of public broadcasting facilities, particularly as the deadline of converting all analog

broadcasts to digital in 2009 approaches. For FY2008, Congress funded this program at $18.8

million. Under at third program, NTIA operates a revolving fund which uses offset receipts from

the auction of licenses recovered from discontinued analog signals. An important part of this

program is to fund a digital-analog converter box program to assist consumers in meeting the

February 2009 deadline for receiving television broadcasts in digital format.

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The National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Background

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a part of the

Department of Commerce, is the executive branch’s principal advisory office on domestic and

international telecommunications and information technology issues and policies. Among its

objectives, it has a mandate to provide greater access for all Americans to telecommunications

services; to provide support for U.S. attempts to open foreign telecommunications and

information markets; to advise the Secretary of Commerce, the President, and Vice President and

the executive branch in international telecommunications and information negotiations; to fund

research grants for new technologies and their applications; and to assist non-profit organizations

in converting to digital transmission in the 21st century.1

Generally, congressional policymakers have supported the NTIA’s mandate and objectives

through the appropriations process. The recent history of the NTIA budget, FY2000-FY2007, is

as follows (appropriations for FY2008 will be included once the final bill has been passed):

Table 1. NTIA Funding FY2000-FY2009

(in millions of dollars)

Request

Appropriations

FY2000

$72.3

$52.9

FY2001

423.0

100.4

FY2002

73.0

73.0

FY2003

44.0

73.6

FY2004

25.4

51.1

FY2005

27.6

38.7

FY2006

17.8

39.6

FY2007

17.8

39.6a

FY2008

18.6

36.3b

FY2009

19.2

a.

P.L. 110-5, the Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution 2007, extends FY2006 funding for NTIA

through FY2007.

b.

P.L. 110-161, the Omnibus Appropriations Act of FY2008.

It should be noted that in FY2001, the Clinton Administration requested additional funding for

digitizing existing public broadcasting transmissions and construction of new public digital

broadcasting facilities. While the final appropriations did not match the Clinton Administration’s

request of $423 million, it represented a substantial increase in NTIA’s historical budget.

Congress has generally maintained consistent funding for NTIA in its appropriations, regardless

of the request.

For FY2009, the Bush Administration has proposed a continued reduction in the NTIA budget,

primarily reflected in eliminating NTIA’s program to construct and maintain public

1

See http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/ntiafacts.htm. Last viewed February 26, 2008.

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The National Telecommunications and Information Administration

telecommunications facilities. The Administration also sees NTIA having a larger role in national

emergency planning (see below).

Programs and Budgets

Until FY2004, the NTIA budget had three major components: salaries and expenses; information

infrastructure grants programs; and public telecommunications facilities, planning and

construction. However, the infrastructure grants program was eliminated in FY2005. In both

FY2006 and FY2007, the Bush Administration requested ending funding for the public

telecommunications facilities, planning and construction program.

Salaries and Expenses

This portion of the NTIA budget includes funding to maintain ongoing programs for domestic and

international policy development, federal spectrum and related research. For FY2009, the Bush

Administration has requested $19.2 million. According to the Administration, this would sustain

current efforts to provide basic research, analytical, and management topics of interest to the U.S.

telecommunications and information sectors of the economy.

Other administrative and policy responsibilities that fall to NTIA but are not separate program

functions include domestic and international telecommunications policymaking. The NTIA

advises the President, Vice President and Secretary of Commerce on international

telecommunications treaties and represents U.S. positions and policies at international

conferences, such as the World Radio Conference held by the International Telecommunication

Union. The NTIA also advises the executive branch on ways to implement the 1996

Telecommunications Act (P.L. 104-104), further competition in telecommunications and develop

“technology neutral” telecommunications policies. At the same time, it has produced a series of

reports on the “digital divide” in America—who comprises this divide and what policies may help

close the divide. 2 The NTIA also is overseeing the transition of the management of the Internet

domain name system to the private sector.3

Spectrum Policy. Among the many administrative functions that also fall under salaries and

expenses is management of the U.S. spectrum for federal use. The Federal Communications

Commission (FCC) has the primary role of managing the non-federal portion of the spectrum,

which not only includes private sector use, but state and local government use of the spectrum as

well. The NTIA also advises the President and executive branch on national spectrum policy,

manages the federal portion of the spectrum for public safety use, and encourages policies that

provide greater private sector use of existing broadcast spectrum.4

2

“Digital divide” commonly refers to those who have access to the Internet and those who do not. While some contend

that the “digital divide” is a political, not policy, issue, the NTIA has published a series of Department of Commerce

reports on the status of Internet use in the United States by demographics. See The National Telecommunications and

Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their

Use of the Internet. February 2002.

3

For more on domain names and the role of NTIA, see CRS Report 97-868, Internet Domain Names: Background and

Policy Issues, by (name redacted).

4

For more on spectrum management and auction issues, see CRS Report RL31764, Spectrum Management: Auctions,

by (name redacted).

Congressional Research Service

2

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Domain Names. The Department of Commerce, through NTIA, maintains formal oversight over

the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the private, non-profit

corporation which serves as the technical coordinator of the domain name system. ICANN’s

authority is governed by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of

Commerce and NTIA. The MOU was intended to provide the transition of the management of the

domain name system to the private sector, with the United States and other governments

participating as minority stakeholders. The NTIA is currently the accredited U.S. government’s

representative to ICANN’s Government Advisory Committee (GAC). 5

Digital Transition. The third NTIA program that the Bush Administration has requested funding

for comes out of the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act. That law—and new NTIA program—called for

the creation of a Digital Transition and Safety Public Fund, which offset receipts from the auction

of licenses to use electromagnetic spectrum recovered from discontinued analog television

signals. The Bush Administration began setting these reimbursable funds at $45 million in

FY2007. The receipts would fund the following programmatic functions at NTIA: a digitalanalog converter box program to assist consumers in meeting the 2009 deadline for receiving

television broadcasts in digital format; public safety interoperable communications grants, which

will be made to ensure that public safety agencies have a standardized format for sharing voice

and data signals on the radio spectrum; New York City 9/11 digital transition funding, until the

planned Freedom Tower is built; assistance to low-power television stations, for conversion from

analog to digital transition; a national alert and tsunami warning program; and funding to enhance

a national alert system as stated in the ENHANCE 911 Act of 2004.6

Public Telecommunications Facilities, Planning and Construction (PTFPC)

The PTFPC program in NTIA assists public broadcasting stations, state and local governments,

Indian tribes, and non-profit organizations construct facilities to bring educational and cultural

programs to the U.S. public using broadcast and non-broadcast telecommunications and

information technologies. 7 The program provides competitive grants to public broadcasting

organizations to plan, buy and employ new broadcast equipment and services nationwide. The

public broadcast system had a mandate to convert all of its television broadcasts to digital by May

31, 2003. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has reported that most, but not all, of its

public broadcast members have me that goal.

For FY2009, the Bush Administration has requested zero funding, to close out existing digital

construction and conversion projects and to end NTIA’s role in this area. The Bush

Administration is seeking to place all funding for construction of public broadcasting facilities

and conversion of analog broadcast to digital in the federal funding for the Corporation for Public

Broadcasting, so it can expedite digital conversion.

Technology Opportunity Program (TOP)

In FY2005, the Bush Administration requested the termination of NTIA’s information

infrastructure grants program, called the Technology Opportunity Program (TOP). Congress

5

CRS Report 97-868, Internet Domain Names: Background and Policy Issues, by (name redacted).

CRS Report RL32594, Public Safety Communications Policy, by (name redacted).

7

See http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/ntiafacts.htm. Viewed June 27, 2007.

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The National Telecommunications and Information Administration

agreed with this request and eliminated funding for this program.8 TOP was a competitive, meritbased matching grant program that was started in FY1994 to provide emerging

telecommunications and information technologies to grant recipients in new and innovative

ways. 9 The Bush Administration and Congress agreed that this program had successfully served

its purpose of creating new pilot programs in areas not served or underserved by

telecommunications and Internet technologies. While some policymakers have called for new

funding for this program, no new legislation authorizing appropriations has been introduced to

date.

Conclusions

Policymakers continue to examine the proper role of NTIA in supporting its programs and

policies, as well as the overall budget for NTIA to support its mission. According to some, the

Telecommunications Act of 1996 set into law a de-regulatory environment that requires less, not

more, federal direction of telecommunications and information technology use. The explosive

growth of the Internet since the mid-1990s has reached nearly every part of America, and Internet

access is virtually ubiquitous. Therefore, beyond budget issues, the role of NTIA has changed in

some policy areas.

Two important issues facing NTIA’s administration of public telecommunications policy are

domain name registration and use of spectrum. Regarding domain names, the expiration of the

Department of Commerce/NTIA MOU with ICANN on September 30, 2006, has led to

speculation over whether, and how, the MOU might be renewed. IT also has raised concerns over

the extent to which (if at all) NTIA might ultimately relinquish control over ICANN and the

domain name system. Second, some are concerned that NTIA is seeking to develop a larger and

broader policy role in spectrum management as a result of losing funding in other program areas,

such as the TOP program and perhaps eventually the PTFPC program. Because spectrum and its

use is an important alternative to terrestrial communications transmission and reception, federal

policy regarding its use and applications is an important national issue. Some question whether

NTIA’s evolving role in spectrum management is being fully coordinated with other federal

institutions, such as that of the Federal Communications Commission.10

A second important issue is the role of NTIA in the auction and management of spectrum. The

third NTIA program that is administered by NTIA but not directly funded by appropriated money

comes out of the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act. That law (P.L. 109-171) called for the creation of a

Digital Transition and Safety Public Fund, which would provide funding for further use of the

electromagnetic spectrum, by offsetting receipts received from the auction of licenses to use the

older analog spectrum for other purposes. The initial auction was held on January 24, 2008. The

receipts from the auction will fund the following programmatic functions at NTIA, perhaps the

most notable (and receiving the most public attention) is a digital-analog converter box program

8

Before 2000, the TOP program was called the Technology Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP).

9

The TOP program was funded between $17 million to $21 million in the years preceding its termination. For more

information on the funding history of this program, see http://www.osec.doc.gov/bmi/budget/06BIB/ntia.pdf. Viewed

June 27, 2007.

10

To alleviate these concerns, the Bush Administration has announced that the Assistant Secretary of NTIA will chair

an interagency committee, the Policy and Plans Steering Group, which will seek to implement the President’s

November 30, 2004 Spectrum Policy Initiative, http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/gallery/ppsg01242005.htm. Viewed

June 27, 2007.

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The National Telecommunications and Information Administration

to assist consumers in meeting the February 2009 deadline for receiving television broadcasts in

digital format. Congress is watching this transition period, and NTIA’s role in it, very closely.

Concerns about changes in NTIA’s mission and objectives also has been raised regarding the

Bush Administration’s elimination of funding for the TOP program and reducing funding for the

PTFPC program. The Administration contends that the efforts of the former will be picked up by

the private sector, and the latter by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Some still contend

that it is not clear whether all of the possible areas of information infrastructure development

have been saturated through the TOP program; or if not yet saturated, whether industry will find it

profitable to provide the “last mile”11 of telecommunications and Internet connections in areas not

yet served. For public telecommunications and facilities planning and construction, an issue may

arise as to whether the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has the resources to administer a

facilities construction program. The ultimate question may be whether this change will

fundamentally affect the pace at which national broadcasting is converted to digital transmission.

Author Contact Information

(name redacted)

Section Research Manager

/redacted/@crs.loc.gov, 7-....

11

The “last mile” is a term that applies when an entire telecommunications network is in place, except for the final

connection, or “last mile,” to the user.

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