What the latest infrastructure bill says about 3.1-3.45 GHz

The massive infrastructure bill making its way through the US legislature includes a section on spectrum auctions, including pre-auction funding for the Department of Defense (DoD) to research sharing and commercial use in the 3.1-3.45 GHz band. The section says once the bill is enacted, $50 million from the Spectrum Relocation Fund would be transferred to the DoD for research, planning and other activities for efficient spectrum use for the purpose of making the band available, including reallocating spectrum for shared federal and non-federal licensed users and conducting an auction. Sharing in the lower portion of the 3 GHz band (specifically 3100-3550 MHz) is not a new ambition, and something that’s been investigated by the NTIA, alongside the DoD and other federal users. Mid-band frequencies are a prime target for 5G services because they provide a sweet spot of coverage and capacity; the 3.5 GHz band is used by many countries globally for 5G. Portions of 3 GHz band are occupied by federal users in the US, such as DoD radar operations, though the Federal Communications Commission has already auctioned spectrum in the 3.5 GHz (CBRS) and 3.7 GHz (C-band) ranges.