Trump Signs Reconciliation Package Restoring FCC's Spectrum Authority, 800 MHz Pipeline
President Donald Trump signed off Friday on the revised budget reconciliation package, previously known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, restoring the FCC’s spectrum auction authority for the first time since it lapsed in March 2023. The measure, which ultimately mirrored the Senate’s version, mandates an 800 MHz spectrum auction pipeline but exempts the 3.1-3.45 GHz and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands from potential reallocation (see 2507030056). The National Emergency Number Association and WISPA separately aired grievances with Congress failing to act on the groups’ policy priorities via reconciliation.
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NENA is “dismayed” that the reconciliation package didn’t allocate future spectrum auction proceeds to pay for next-generation 911 tech upgrades, despite public-safety groups' repeated pushes (see 2506050064), said CEO Brian Fontes in a statement. “While the bill commendably increases funding for national security, cybersecurity, and air traffic control, it is tragically silent on the weakest link in our public safety system: 9-1-1. It is impossible to separate 9-1-1 from public safety, and yet that is exactly what this bill does.”
Fontes noted that the House Commerce Committee in 2023 unanimously advanced its Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act with language to allocate up to $14.8 billion in future proceeds for NG-911 spending (see 2305240069). NENA again extends “our hand toward our allies in Congress to once again, in a bipartisan manner, meet the urgent need to fund our nation’s 9-1-1 system with the necessary investment in” NG-911, he said.
WISPA praised the reconciliation package’s “extension of numerous favorable tax provisions for individuals and businesses” that help small ISPs, but it criticized lawmakers for not exempting the 3.55-3.7 GHz citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) and 5.9-7.1 (6) GHz bands from reallocation. The House’s original version included a 6 GHz band carve-out (see 2505220064).
“The vast majority of WISPA members employ CBRS and/or 6 GHz services to deliver broadband to their rural and under-resourced communities,” the group said. “Not only will this undermine the reasonable expectations of the underlying private investment, but it will also strike at the very heart of those businesses that have so successfully worked to eradicate the digital divide.”