Trump's budget bill opens wide swath of spectrum for sale

Including frequencies that overlap with Wi-Fi 6E and private mobile networking

updated A provision in the new US budget bill opens a wide swath of spectrum for sale, including some that overlaps with frequencies currently allotted for private mobile networks and Wi-Fi 6E. 

The budget reconciliation bill, which President Trump signed into law on July 4 as planned, has a section that gives the Federal Communications Commission permission to begin auctioning off radio frequencies for commercial use again, after its authority to do so expired in 2023. 

The bill directs the FCC to auction almost all spectrum from 1.3 GHz to 10.5 GHz, except the slices at 3.1–3.45 GHz and 7.4–8.4 GHz, putting mid-band airwaves once reserved for federal agencies up for commercial sale.

Smack dab in the middle of that span, say worried advocates, are frequencies used for the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), operating between 3.55 GHz and 3.7 GHz, and Wi-Fi 6E, which uses the 6 GHz range.

"In its quest to generate revenues to pay for the legislation, it potentially puts CBRS and 6 GHz spectrum on the auction block at the FCC," the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, which represents small wireless carriers, said in a release denouncing that part of the bill. 

For those unfamiliar with CBRS, it's a 150 MHz band of frequencies the US government allocated for private mobile networking. It's compatible with both 4G and 5G wireless signals and is used widely for small, private networks.  

"The vast majority of WISPA members employ CBRS and/or 6 GHz services to deliver broadband to their rural and under-resourced communities," WISPA said, warning that auctioning off spectrum in the CBRS and 6 GHz range would "strike at the very heart of those businesses that have so successfully worked to eradicate the digital divide." 

There's also the specter of the telecommunications industry exerting pressure on the FCC to auction off the upper half of the 6 GHz spectrum for cellular usage, like a number of other countries have done. 

Ajit Pai, FCC chairman during Trump's first term and supporter of opening the 6GHz spectrum to unlicensed operation for things like Wi-Fi (which the US ultimately did), is now at the helm of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA). The CTIA has pushed for broadening the spectrum available to cellular carriers. 

Mike Wendy, communications director at WISPA, told The Register that he believed those on the large telecom side of the industry would likely want everything up for auction, including the 6GHz and CBRS bands. WISPA opposes auctioning off those portions of the spectrum because there are already too few public parts of the spectrum left.

"There is little to no greenfield spectrum," Wendy told us in an email. "We have to share and learn how to do it well so we can get the most out of a limited resource."

As this is a government bill, Wendy also pointed out that it's worth reading what’s not in the actual language just as much as what's in it to see what’s on the table. By his reading, there’s not a reason to assume public portions of the spectrum aren’t still at risk of being privatized.

"CBRS and 6 GHz were left open in the reconciliation bill when other areas were not, and that vacuum could be exploited," Wendy told us. "It was not a drafting error."

WISPA's worries aside, the CTIA's own literature makes it pretty clear the industry association is pushing for other frequency ranges. 

According to the CTIA's own spectrum policy for 2024, the Association is interested in expanding into the 7 and 8 GHz bands instead of finagling a deal for the upper 6 GHz band. 

"5G-friendly access to the 7/8 GHz band," the CTIA said, would "help close our nation's widening deficit of licensed spectrum compared to other countries." 

That, in turn, would "create economies of scale with upper 6 GHz licensed wireless deployments around the world, and ensure that the US leads in wireless technologies," the group added. 

Following publication, the CTIA reached out to tell us that, quite honestly, it doesn’t care where the spectrum comes from - we just need more of it.

"It is vital to allow the administration and the FCC to consider all possible options to address our spectrum shortfall," a CTIA spokesperson told El Reg in an email, followed by a call for "an open, transparent review of current spectrum allocations" to find "the best method to consider the needs of all stakeholders and come to a solution that meets the best interests of all Americans."

As for preference, we asked whether it would still push for use of the upper half of the 6GHz band, and weren’t given a direct answer as much as we were given two contradictory bits of information.

On one hand, we were pointed to a study that indicates adoption of 6 GHz Wi-Fi is moving quite slowly, suggesting maybe it’s not a matter worth pushing for. On the other hand, we were told the CTIA still believes the upper 6GHz band will be the next global 5G band due to a number of countries assigning it for commercial use, suggesting the CTIA may push to meet the international community where it stands.

In other words, while Pai is excited that spectrum auctions are back on the menu and glad the bill passed, that doesn't mean he's coming to steal our Wi-Fi beams. 

Additionally, there is a lot of spectrum between 1.3 GHz and 10.5 GHz that doesn't include the 6GHz band or the CBRS range. Funnily enough, none of the bands that the bill specifies should be opened for auction touch either. 

Per the bill, the FCC has two years to open up no less than 100 MHz of frequency between 3.98 and 4.2 GHz, along with an additional 700 MHz from elsewhere around the range of available frequencies to be auctioned off as well. The bill also calls for "timely spectrum analysis" of bands between 2.7 and 2.9 GHz, 4.4 and 4.9 GHz, and 7.25 and 7.4 GHz for possible expansion. 

So you could be worried that Trump's bill is going to destroy private 4G deployments and make your Wi-Fi suck, but there's plenty of other stuff to worry about, and a lot of unassigned spectrum out there available for ready sale without a corresponding court battle. ®

Updated to add comments from the CTIA and WISPA.