Recommendation

Congress should restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority.

Details

Getting spectrum into the market is the best way to push it toward productive use. But the FCC’s authority to auction spectrum licenses expired in 2023 and has not been revived since. Reauthorizing spectrum auctions paired with particular bands the FCC should auction is a necessary step in fueling the wireless future.

Keep reading:

▪ Joe Kane “Congress Must Match Time and Money When Funding ACP With Spectrum Auctions” (ITIF April 2024) https://itif.org/publications/2024/04/30/congress-must-match-time-and-money-when-funding-acp-with-spectrum-auctions/.

▪ Jessica Dine “Pending: A Modern U.S. Spectrum Strategy” (ITIF October 2023) https://itif.org/publications/2023/10/04/pending-a-modern-us-spectrum-strategy/.

Update

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025, formally restored the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through September30,2034. It mandates auctioning at least 800MHz of spectrum in the 1.3–10.5GHz bands within eight years. Prior to the bill’s enactment, the FCC was preparing to resume auctions as soon as it had the authority to do so.

Details:

▪ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1, 119th Congress (2025), https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text.

▪ National Law Review, “What’s New in Wireless - July 2025,” July 4, 2025, https://natlawreview.com/article/whats-new-wireless-july-2025.

▪ Randy Sukow, “FCC Preparing in Case Spectrum Auction Authority Returns,” NRTC, February 28, 2025, https://www.nrtc.coop/fcc-preparing-in-case-spectrum-auction-authority-returns/.