Signed into law, Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" returns an important power to the FCC
Thanks to the "Big, Beautiful, Bill," the FCC gets back on a permanent basis a big power it lost in 2023.
With his iconic signature turning the "Big Beautiful Bill" into law on July 4th, President Donald Trump gave back to the FCC an important power that it lost in March 2023. The FCC can now once again hold auctions that allow the highest bidder to license certain frequencies. Some of the most important auctions we've covered include the 2017 auction of low-band 600MHz spectrum that was dominated by T-Mobile.
The carrier spent $7.99 billion to license 31MHz of 600MHz airwaves (or 45% of the amount up for grabs). T-Mobile ended up using this spectrum for its nationwide 5G service. After taking the early lead in 5G service in the U.S., it was obvious that the carrier made the right decision when it used mid-band spectrum, particularly the 2.5GHz airwaves that it picked up in the Sprint acquisition, to kick off its 5G build-out.
AT&T and Verizon decided to use high-band mmWave spectrum to build out their 5G networks hoping that it could give their customers access to the super fast 1Gbps data speeds available from mmWave airwaves. But the two carriers didn't grasp that mmWave signals travel short distances. Soon it was apparent that T-Mobile's secret sauce was its use of mid-band. While mid-band frequencies do not deliver the zippy fast data speeds that mmWave signals do, they travel longer distances than mmWave.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is glad to have his agency regain its auction authority. | Image credit-X
As a result, in early 2021, AT&T and Verizon spent over $68 billion in an FCC auction allowing the carriers to license C-band spectrum, which happens to be in the mid-band. Then, in September 2022, T-Mobilespent over $304 million to add some more 2.5GHz spectrum to its holdings. But over a year later, T-Mobile had not yet received the licenses to operate the airwaves it won because Congress had failed to renew the FCC's auction authority and it expired preventing T-Mobile from receiving the licenses.
Eventually, the FCC was given temporary auction authority back. Then-President Joe Biden signed the 5G SALE Act in late 2023, which eventually allowed T-Mobile to get the additional 2.5GHz of spectrum it won.
As a result of Trump signing the "Big Beautiful Bill," the government is required to select 800MHz of spectrum between the range of 1.3 GHz to 10.5 GHz to be the subject of future auctions. Airwaves in the 3.1-3.45 GHz and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands are off limits since they are being used by the military.
Former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who had that role during Trump's first term, is now the head of the CTIA trade organization which represents the U.S. wireless industry. Pai, who had been appointed as Chairman of the FCC by Trump in January 2017, said he wanted to thank the president for his "extraordinary leadership and vision, particularly on wireless issues, during this process."
Pai added, "This legislation represents an historic milestone in wireless innovation. It will encourage next-generation wireless technologies, accelerate wireless deployment for the benefit of all American consumers, and secure our global technology leadership."
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