Auctions

Rep Rick Allen (R-GA) introduced the Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2025. This legislation extends the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) spectrum auction authority and seeks to ensure the efficient allocation of mid-band spectrum, a resource critical for the advancement of 5G and next-generation technologies. Specifically, the bill:

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called for the agency to quickly adopt rules that will allow the FCC to proceed with a spectrum auction to fully fund the removal, replacement, and disposal of insecure Chinese-made Huawei and ZTE equipment and services from U.S. networks without further delay.  The recently passed National Defense Authorization Act provides essential funding for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement (or “Rip and Replace”) Program by giving the FCC authority to auction AWS-3 spectrum licenses in its inventory.

This week, Congress passed the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025, this year's version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The law authorizes $895.2 billion for Department of Defense programs, defense-related activities, and national security programs in the Department of Energy and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

Rep Bob Latta (R-OH) said he hoped the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to auction off spectrum could be restored in a budget reconciliation bill in 2025. Latta chairs the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, which deals with telecommunications issues. It’s part of the House Commerce Committee, which Rep Latta said is “going to play a large part in” a reconciliation bill. Budget reconciliations allow lawmakers to bypass the Senate’s filibuster and move spending bills with a bare majority.

Despite the furor over T-Mobile’s shares after CEO Mike Sievert’s comments about their fourth quarter earnings, the wireless chief actually had plenty of other issues to talk about, particularly his company’s wireless spectrum and how that might be used in the future. Sievert talked about the use and availability of its midband spectrum, both 2.5 GHz and C-Band, at

 The U.S is at a critical juncture for regaining leadership in driving future international spectrum allocation decisions.  The U.S is in serious risk of marooning itself and becoming a mid-band spectrum and technology island, given U.S. allocations in the 3 and 6 GHz bands that increasingly diverge from the harmonization in the rest of the world.  To stave off such an outcome, the U.S.

AT&T is urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move existing CBRS spectrum users to a different portion of the 3GHz band.

The growth in mobile data traffic makes our world better informed, more fulfilled, and of course, better connected. It means consumers are taking advantage of the powerful service our networks are delivering. But it also means those networks are being tested like never before. As we know, this network strain will only continue as IoT devices, intelligent infrastructure, and AI-enabled applications proliferate.

On October 1, Federal Communications Commissioner (FCC) Anna Gomez spoke at Americas Spectrum Management Conference in Washington, DC. She spoke about several issues, including spectrum sharing and the National Spectrum Strategy, and urged conference goers to keep the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) top of mind in their discussions. She also spoke about the history of the FCC's spectrum auction authority, which has been lapsed for over a year.

Rep August Pfluger (R-TX) introduced the Supporting National Security with Spectrum Act, which fully funds the “Rip and Replace” program to remove Chinese equipment from our telecommunications networks.