CTIA Joins Growing Chorus Opposing Military Spectrum Veto

In a November 13 letter to congressional leadership, CTIA President & CEO Ajit Pai warned that Section 1564 of the version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that passed the Senate imposes an "unnecessary" restriction on NTIA's ability to migrate existing military spectrum users into the 3.1-3.45 GHz and 7-8 GHz bands – and thereby free up spectrum in other bands to be auctioned by the FCC for commercial use.

The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which called for the auction of 800 MHz of spectrum (and reinstated the FCC's spectrum auction authority through the end of September 2034), explicitly prohibits the auction of spectrum in the aforementioned bands.

Section 1564, which was added to the NDAA by Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and chair of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, would go a step further and "[p]rohibit[] any modifications to DoD systems in key spectrum bands without joint certification from the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff" (emphasis added).

Mr. Pai is not the first to object to the inclusion of Section 1564 in the NDAA.

In a September 10 post to the FSF Blog, Free State Foundation President Randolph May (1) pointed out that the White House in a Statement of Administration Policy objected to Section 1564 because it "would hinder the President's executive authority," (2) agreed that "Congress cannot properly restrict a president's executive authority by handing over final decision-making authority to his subordinates," and (3) urged Senator Fischer to withdraw the provision.

Some additional examples:

• On October 16, Citizens Against Government Waste's Deborah Collier wrote that, should the Senate version prevail, "the Pentagon will be given the absolute authority to veto the sale or shared use of DOD-controlled spectrum, jeopardizing the ability of the U.S. to remain the global leader in telecommunications and stymie the FCC's ability to auction more spectrum for wireless communications."

• At a Punchbowl News event on October 9, House Commerce Committee Chairman Richard Hudson (R-NC) expressed similar reservations, stating that "I don't think we need to give any kind of veto authority to the Pentagon. I think that could be counterproductive."

• At NTIA's 2025 Spectrum Policy Symposium in September, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, reportedly cautioned that "[p]ractically speaking, this means NTIA would not even be able to move other federal operators to these bands – which it will have to do to clear the spectrum pipeline – unless first receiving approval from the sovereigns at the Joint Chiefs."

House Passes NDAA With Small Spectrum Provision, But Pipeline Still Empty

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. 

NDAA Markup Should Steer Clear of FCC's Careful L-Band Order

Today, I posted the following tweet thread about the FCC's April 2020  order approving Ligado Networks' deployment of wireless services in the L-Band and the September 1, 2021 markup hearing scheduled for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022:

1) U.S. leadership on #5G is more important to the future of the free world than ever. @LigadoNetworks' planned 5G commercial wireless network using L-Band spectrum -- which has @FCC approval -- will play a vital role in ensuring that global leader on 5G is America, not China.

— Seth Cooper (@CooperFSF) August 30, 2021

3) @FCC's order approving Ligado Networks' L-Band use followed a careful process. It complied with APA, factored public comments, used staff engineering expertise + GPS safeguards. @FCC's decision should not be thwarted by last-minute amendments to NDAA via an uncareful process.

— Seth Cooper (@CooperFSF) August 30, 2021