U.S. Needs More Commercial Spectrum to Lead on AI and Reindustrialization

Executive Summary

• The use of the radio spectrum is increasingly important for national security and economic strength. Because spectrum is finite and its use is controlled by the federal government, government decisions about the allocation of spectrum are more critical than ever.

• The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) included the most important spectrum policy legislative provisions in years, restoring the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) spectrum auction authority and requiring the auction of at least 800 MHz of licensed spectrum by 2034. However, these provisions alone are inadequate for U.S. businesses to meet the challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) and reindustrialization.

• The FCC has moved quickly to authorize the first auction required by OBBBA, but the United States needs more commercial spectrum than the law calls for on a quicker timeline than it requires. The Trump administration should focus on transferring spectrum held by the federal government to the private sector and set an ambitious new goal to auction 1,000 MHz by January 2029. 

The Policy Question

OBBBA restored the FCC’s auction authority and directed the commission to identify and auction at least 800 MHz of wireless spectrum to mobile network operators by 2034. This was a major legislative win for wireless advocates, but many stakeholders believe it was insufficient and have continued to argue that the FCC needs to auction more spectrum on a more aggressive timeline. Because the law did not identify which specific bands of spectrum should be auctioned as part of the required 800 MHz, other stakeholders remain focused on making the case for which bands should or should not be subject to auction. Meanwhile, AI is anticipated to drive a sharp increase in data traffic across all networks as the United States prepares for the commercial launch of the 6G standard in 2030.

How should policymakers implement the spectrum provisions of OBBBA and approach spectrum policy following passage of the legislation?

Why It Matters

All wireless communications technologies—from cell phones to Wi-Fi internet connections, television and radio broadcasts, and satellites—operate by sending signals through the radio waves found on the electromagnetic spectrum.

These radio waves exist naturally. They are also finite.  The radio portion of the spectrum is made up of a set of frequencies¹Frequency = the number of waves that pass a fixed point in a given amount of time. spanning from 1 Hz to 3,000 GHz²1 Hz = 1 wave per second; 1,000 Hz = 1 kHz; 1,000 kHz = 1 MHz; 1,000 MHz = 1 GHz.  , with limited space on each frequency’s wavelengths. If too many signals try to use a frequency or a band³ Band = a designated range of frequencies.  at the same time, it becomes congested, causing interference that results in poor performance or lost connection. To avoid this congestion, governments around the world regulate who can use which frequency bands and under what terms.

These decisions are important because businesses today rely increasingly on connectivity not just between cell phones and computers, but between devices found in vehicles, factories, and hospitals.  AI systems are entirely dependent on data and data connectivity at both the training and the inference levels. As U.S. Chief Technology Officer Ethan Klein said in May 2026, spectrum is a “core enabling infrastructure to us being able to win the AI race.” Reindustrialization and reshoring efforts rely heavily on robotics and automation (and increasingly AI), which utilize a combination of cellular and Wi-Fi networks to connect the physical and digital worlds—the precondition of a modern-day smart factory. Technological and industrial strength depends on connectivity, which requires spectrum.  From a foreign policy standpoint, winning the global race to 6G dominance against China will only be possible if the U.S. successfully rolls out the technology at home, and spectrum is essential to this success.

These and other trends have helped push wireless network traffic to increase at a record pace—growing by more than 10x over the past ten years, with some estimates predicting 100x growth during the 2020–2030 decade—making government decisions over the allocation of spectrum more critical than ever.

State of Play

Even though the radio spectrum spans from 1 Hz to 3,000 GHz, the current debate over spectrum focuses on a limited subset of frequencies where the radio waves are fit for commercial use by wireless networks, because they have the unique characteristics needed to carry vast amounts of data over very long distances.  While the exact range of frequencies that are part of this “commercially viable” subset of frequencies is somewhat disputed, commercial discussion of spectrum use largely focuses on the frequencies between 3 GHz and 8.4 GHz.  Notably, of this 5.4 GHz⁴Hz, kHz, MHz, and GHz frequency designations can be used to identify an amount of spectrum (e.g., the amount of spectrum between the 3 GHz and 8.4 GHz frequencies is 5.4 GHz) and to designate a specific frequency or band (e.g. the 5.4 GHz band).   continuous stretch of “commercially viable” spectrum frequencies, the federal government controls and uses 60% for its own non-commercial purposes.

In the United States, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the FCC share regulatory authority over radio spectrum, with the NTIA controlling the federal government’s use of spectrum and the FCC regulating private sector and other non-federal uses. 

Within the FCC’s purview, use of non-federal spectrum is divided between licensed and unlicensed bands. Unlicensed spectrum frequencies allow free, public spectrum use by any user who agrees to abide by the FCC’s rules (e.g., Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies). Conversely, licensed spectrum frequencies offer exclusive use of the spectrum by users who pay for the right (via auction) to operate in a frequency without outside interference (e.g., cellular networks). For years, licensed and unlicensed operators have battled over their share of the non-federal spectrum, which is an increasingly scarce commodity.

In 1993, Congress first authorized the FCC to hold licensed spectrum auctions for an initial period of five years. Over the next three decades, that auction authority was extended multiple times under the leadership of both Republican and Democratic administrations and Congresses, until the 118^th Congress let it lapse in March 2023. Congress considered several bills in 2023 and 2024 to reauthorize auction authority, but no legislation advanced. Meanwhile, after initially taking the lead in the 5G race during the first Trump Administration, the United States fell behind China and other developed countries in making licensed spectrum available for mobile networks. Projections in 2022 warned that without any new U.S. spectrum auctions, China could have three times as much licensed spectrum as the United States within five years. This dynamic placed spectrum allocation high on the initial list of national security concerns for the second Trump administration.

This debate heightened in 2025, as Congress considered various spectrum provisions as part of OBBBA. Eventually, following much discussion in both houses of Congress and amongst industry and national defense stakeholders, the final version of the law included the most important spectrum-related legislative provisions in over a decade: a restoration of the FCC’s authority to hold spectrum auctions through September 2034 and a mandate for the FCC to identify and auction at least 800 MHz of wireless spectrum by 2034. 

Despite a strong push for Congress to be more prescriptive regarding which bands the FCC had to auction, Congress deferred these allocation decisions to the NTIA and FCC within the following constraints:

• At least 100 MHz of the 800 MHz must come from “the Upper C-band” (3.98–4.2 GHz) and be auctioned by July 2027.
• 500 MHz of spectrum from “federal users” (e.g., the Department of War) must be identified by NTIA by July 2029 and auctioned by 2032, with at least 200 MHz of this spectrum to be identified no later than July 2027 and auctioned by 2029.
• In response to national security concerns, the spectrum auction authority does not apply to frequencies between 3.1–3.45 GHz and 7.4–8.4 GHz, which remain available for federal use.

Following the passage of OBBBA, the spectrum debate quickly shifted to the executive branch, where the NTIA and FCC have worked quickly to implement the auctions. In June 2026, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that at its July 2026 meeting the FCC would vote to hold a 2027 auction of 160 MHz of spectrum in the Upper C-Band (3.98–4.14 GHz). ​This announcement followed a November 2025 proposed rule and puts the FCC on track to exceed the OBBBA requirement to auction at least 100 MHz in the Upper C-band no later than July 2027.

At the same time, interested stakeholders representing all sides of the debate—national defense, unlicensed, and licensed—have continued to push for the inclusion or exclusion of specific bands in the FCC’s auction plans. In this debate, the two most hotly contested bands among industry stakeholders are the 6GHz band and the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band.

• 6 GHz Band: In 2020, the FCC in the first Trump administration adopted rules that opened 1,200 MHz of spectrum in the 6 GHz band (5.925–7.125 GHz) for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed uses. At the time, this decision was noted as a massive expansion of the amount of spectrum available for Wi-Fi, increasing it by almost a factor of five. Ever since, licensed spectrum supporters have argued Wi-Fi does not need this much spectrum while pushing for portions of the band to be reallocated for licensed auctions. Notably, an early version of OBBBAthat passed the House (but did not pass into law) excluded the 6 GHz band from spectrum auction authority. In January 2026, the FCC signaled a commitment to maintaining the band’s unlicensed status, ordering the refinement of the rules for portions of this band to allow for the operation of a new category of devices that can enable better Wi-Fi and other smart devices. As of 2026, the band is used by next-generation Wi-Fi and other devices that benefit from operating on the wide, relatively uncongested band.
• CBRS Band: In 2015, the FCC under the Obama administration adopted rules for the 3550–3700 MHz band (3.5 GHz band) under a spectrum-sharing model that offered another option in addition to strictly licensed and unlicensed use. This established the CBRS band and created a three-tiered access and authorization framework to accommodate shared federal and non-federal use of the band. As of 2026, a variety of different commercial stakeholders use the CBRS band, including many private network operators. For years, licensed spectrum supporters have pushed a variety of different proposals to move CBRS to a different band and reallocate the spectrum towards licensed auctions. Meanwhile, advocates for maintaining CBRS point to the diverse coalition of stakeholders it serves. A recent industry report highlighted CBRS’s support of advanced U.S. manufacturers, estimating that 75% of the U.S. private 5G networks deployed in 2025 use CBRS spectrum.

In addition to the debates over these bands and OBBBA implementation, the wireless industry is also busy preparing for the commercial launch of 6G, the sixth-generation wireless technology standard that will soon succeed 5G. Ongoing work to develop that standard will culminate with a November 2027 meeting of international standards bodies in China, with 6G commercial deployments expected to start in 2029 and 2030. Despite this timeline, China is already moving full speed ahead on 6G to further embed its technology in global markets. In March, Chinese telecom leader Huawei touted a comprehensive 6G solution that will utilize up to 400 MHz wide bands of spectrum.⁵ In late 2025, the European Union also released plans to free up over 600 MHz for 6G use.

The United States is also preparing for 6G, which will require additional spectrum to build new networks. In December 2025, President Donald Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum titled “Winning the 6G Race” which declared that it “is the policy of the United States to lead the world in 6G development” while putting a strong emphasis on spectrum availability. The memorandum directed his administration to move forward with auction plans for the 7.125–7.4 GHz band and begin study of two other bands—2.69–2.9 GHz and 4.4–4.94 GHz—to determine their fit for auctions. The order also tasks the administration with advancing U.S. leadership on the 6G standard through international and diplomatic engagement.

Analysis

Mobile network data traffic is currently growing at a rate of over 20% per year, and AI is likely to accelerate it sharply. This makes the government’s spectrum allocation decisions increasingly important, with significant consequences for not just U.S. consumers, but also businesses and national security. As noted earlier, businesses today rely on connectivity between not just cell phones and computers, but between devices used every day in transportation, healthcare, and manufacturing.

For U.S. manufacturers, access to private wireless networks is becoming increasingly important as the adoption of physical AI requires 24/7 connectivity between human operators and machines such as autonomous vehicles, robots, drones, cranes, and forklifts. In June 2026, China unveiled a road map to accelerate the development of its industrial internet which called for the buildout of 50,000 industrial private wireless networks by 2030. Meanwhile, a recent research report projected the U.S. was on track to have just over 5,000 private networks by 2030. For the United States, critical efforts to reindustrialize and win the AI competition with China will require more data, greater enterprise connectivity, and more spectrum.

In this debate about “more spectrum”, the OBBBA provisions that require the FCC to auction 800 MHz by 2034⁶With interim deadlines requiring auction of the 100 MHz by 2027, 300 total MHz by 2029, and 600 total MHz by 2032. are a step in the right direction. Indeed, after the FCC failed to auction a single MHz of spectrum during Joe Biden’s presidency, these provisions will require the FCC to auction a minimum of 300 MHz of spectrum by the end of President Trump’s term in January 2029. However, a comparison to Trump’s first term would suggest this is not sufficient. From 2017 through 2020, the FCC freed up roughly 6,000 MHz of spectrum for licensed use alone plus “thousands of additional MHz of spectrum for unlicensed use”.

In 2024, Senators John Thune (R-SD), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced the Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2024, legislation widely supported by industry stakeholders that would have required the FCC to auction 600 MHz by early 2027 and 1,250 MHz by early 2030. That legislation would have also required NTIA to identify at least 2,500 MHz mid-band spectrum that could be reallocated from federal use to non-federal or shared use. By comparison, OBBBAonly requires NTIA to identify 500 MHz to be reallocated from federal use.

Meanwhile, the federal government continues to control 60% of the spectrum frequencies most desirable for commercial use. Much of this is for the military and no rational spectrum allocation policy should impede the military’s ability to communicate. However, the Department of War has never accounted for its control of spectrum. There is no official inventory of spectrum use, nor has the military’s use of spectrum ever been audited. Even the claim that the federal government controls 60% of these bands is itself a widely accepted industry estimate that substitutes for an official accounting method.

Most of the military’s allocation of spectrum also traces back to decisions made decades ago, without accounting for the impact or needs of 21^st-century technology. The increasing data demands of AI will require wider contiguous channel bandwidths, with the 6G standard expected to use contiguous bandwidths up to 400 MHz wide. In a world where our military superiority will increasingly rely on AI innovations developed in the private sector, ensuring the private sector has the spectrum it needs to compete should be viewed as a national security priority, alongside and equal to the national security imperative to successfully deploy the 6G standard.

Fortunately, this does not seem to be lost on the Trump administration. President Trump’s December 2025 memorandum on 6G stated:

“The next generation of mobile communications networks (6G) will be foundational to the national security, foreign policy, and economic prosperity of the United States. This technology will play a pivotal role in the development and adoption of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and implantable technologies…It is the policy of the United States to lead the world in 6G development.  Certain steps are necessary to achieve the goal of this policy, including steadfastly advancing American interests in the international standards bodies that will play a crucial role in 6G development, and identifying a significant volume of radiofrequency spectrum that can be harmonized for 6G networks internationally.”

Recommendations

Both AI development in particular, and American reindustrialization broadly, require adequate unlicensed and licensed spectrum, as both require next-generation cellular networks and next-generation Wi-Fi. While decisions over which specific bands of spectrum should be allocated for licensed or unlicensed commercial remain critically important, the United States should reorient its spectrum policy at a higher level, prioritizing the transfer of spectrum from federal control, managed by NTIA, to commercial use managed by the FCC.

• The FCC should continue to move forward with implementation of OBBBA auctions as quickly as possible. Since enactment of OBBBA, the FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr has moved quickly to implement the required licensed spectrum auctions. In June 2026, the FCC announced plans to move forward with the upper C-band auction of 160 MHz next year, exceeding the law’s requirement for 100 MHz.  Also in June 2026, NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth made news at a congressional hearing when she said the NTIA was working with the FCC towards a goal of holding a total of five auctions by the end of 2028. The FCC and NTIA seem to be on the right track, but should accelerate their implementation of the directives outlined in President Trump’s 6G memorandum to further accelerate the timelines for these auctions.

• President Trump should go beyond OBBBA’s requirement of auctioning 800 MHz by 2034 and set a goal to auction 1,000 MHz (1 GHz) by the end of his term in January 2029. Ahead of the rollout of 5G in 2020, the FCC authorized 6,000 MHz during President Trump’s first term. Unfortunately, this was followed by 0 MHz during the Biden administration. The Trump administration should acknowledge that delivering 800 MHz by 2034 is insufficient for 6G and work with NTIA to identify additional bands of spectrum suitable for commercial use. As part of this process, the government should account for its holding of 60% of commercially valuable spectrum. Congress should also pass a post-OBBBA version of the Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2024 sponsored by Senators Thune, Cruz, and Blackburn, whichset a goal of identifying a pipeline of 2,500 MHz of federal spectrum for commercial use.

• The FCC should try to protect existing commercial spectrum interests, but the U.S. future spectrum roadmap should focus on offering channels up to 400 MHz wide. Both arguments from the wireless industry that diminish the importance of unlicensed spectrum bands for Wi-Fi and other uses, and arguments from the cable industry that diminish the need for more wireless networks, are misguided. Existing commercial interests in the 6 GHz and CBRS bands are important, but they should not be determinative when plotting out a roadmap for the nation’s future spectrum needs. The FCC’s priority should be to identify bands that meet the needs of the next generation of communications technologies, including continuous bands up to 400 MHz wide. The 6 GHz Wi-Fi band currently does this, and the FCC’s June 2026 announcement regarding its upcoming C-Band auction stressed the importance of this, noting the 160 MHz auction is set to “unify a big and contiguous swath of 440 megahertz of spectrum”, which “sets America up to lead the world in next-gen connectivity.” The FCC should also give consideration to supporting technologies that use low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to provide advanced communication services.

• Federal agencies should build on President Trump’s 6G memorandum to prioritize global leadership on international standards. The global 6G standard will be finalized at the International Telecommunication Union’s World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-27), which will be held in Shanghai, China in October 2027.​ President Trump’s December 2025 memorandum outlined a plan for the United States to win the 6G race in part by “building a coalition of industry and foreign partners that supports the United States’ positions” on the 6G issues the conference will consider. Federal agencies—including the Departments of State and Commerce—should continue to prioritize this coalition building and standards work ahead of the 2027 conference to ensure that the United States leads the world in 6G technology.

Further Reading

• “Securing the Future of U.S. Wireless Networks—The Looming Spectrum Crisis,” Accenture, March 2025.

• John Kuzin, “The OBBBA Provides a Clear Path to U.S. 6G Leadership, but Now the Hard Work Begins,” Qualcomm, December 2025.

• Ibraheem Kasujee and Tom Rebbeck, “The Role of Private 5G and CBRS In The US Manufacturing Sector,” Analysys Mason, March 2026. 

• Roslyn Layton, “Airwaves of Power: Why the Pentagon Should Shift to a Commercial-First Spectrum Model,” War on the Rocks, April 2026.