On December 11, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5009, the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 ("NDAA"). Among the massive bill's contents, H.R. 5009 authorizes the FCC to conduct a spectrum license auction for the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS-3) bands, with auction proceeds of up to more than $3 billion going to fund the Secure and Trusted Communications Network Reimbursement Program. Also known as "rip-and-replace," the program reimburses small advanced communications service providers for expenses due to the removal, replacement, and disposal of communications equipment provided by Huawei or ZTE.
Back in 2014, the FCC conducted Auction 97 for AWS-3 licenses, but 197 of those licenses were entangled in administrative processes and litigation. If H.R. 5009 becomes law, it would do good by enabling that valuable spectrum to be put to use.
The AWS-3 spectrum license auction provision in H.R. 5009 appears reasonable and beneficial as far as it goes. But H.R. 5009's AWS-3 provision is a targeted measure involving only a small amount of spectrum. The bill would not address the larger issue of the FCC's lapsed general authority to conduct licensed spectrum auctions and issue licenses. Nor would it address the need for significant amounts of more spectrum to be put into the pipeline for repurposing and auctioning by the Commission to support next-generation commercial wireless services.
In 2025, the 119th Congress needs to make the revival of the FCC's spectrum auction authority a priority and – in coordination with the incoming Trump Administration – hopefully authorize specific bands for repurposing and auction.
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