“One Big Beautiful Bill Act” Includes Spectrum Auction Provisions

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) includes provisions directing the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to identify spectrum currently reserved for Federal use to be auctioned for non-Federal (commercial) use. OBBBA specifies that at least 300 MHz be reallocated for exclusive non-Federal use while an additional 500 MHz be identified for non-Federal or shared Federal and non-Federal use. Frequencies between 3.1 gigahertz (GHz) and 3.45 GHz and between 7.4 GHz and 8.4 GHz are excluded.

Trusted Insights for What's Ahead^®

• The spectrum auctions are one piece of a much larger tax and spending bill and represent an important source of revenue to offset other costs in the legislation. For example, an analysis of an earlier House version of the spectrum provisions were expected to raise $88 billion. Since they began in 1994, spectrum auctions have raised $233 billion.
• Supporters of spectrum auctions argue that as demand for wireless communications continues to increase, opening more spectrum up to commercial use would support competition and innovation. However, others have expressed concern about maintaining availability of spectrum for national security purposes, such as use by the Defense Department and the Federal Aviation Administration.
• Some private sector entities have also raised concerns about the provisions. For example, a coalition of 23 internet service providers in Texas noted that OBBBA will allow a portion of the 3.5 gigahertz band known as the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) to be auctioned for exclusive commercial use. CBRS currently allows Federal and non-Federal use, including licensed and unlicensed commercial uses, and is frequently used by a variety of entities (e.g., schools, stadiums, and airports) to operate private wireless networks.
• Notably, the FCC auctioned certain CBRS frequencies in 2020 for $4.54 billion. The holders of those frequencies would need to be compensated if the frequencies were to be reauctioned, partially reducing some of the provisions’ projected revenue.
• Tensions between commercial and public uses of spectrum are long-running and have led to many proposals to evaluate and reallocate spectrum allocations for both private and government uses.