WISPA cites BEAD in plea to FCC to leave CBRS alone

The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) recently filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission in which the lobbyist implored the FCC to avoid auctioning spectrum from the CBRS band, citing the spectrum's importance to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, among other concerns. WISPA's letter comes in response to the FCC's mandate, via President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) passed in July, to free up and auction 800MHz of spectrum within two years. The language of the law has some in the industry worried about the future of CBRS spectrum, used by fixed-wireless access (FWA) providers among others, as well as 6GHz, which is primarily used for Wi-Fi technologies. "While the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill eliminates the possibility of auctioning of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band (and, presumably, relocation of non-Federal spectrum to that band), WISPA understands that the [FCC] is tasked with consulting with [the National Telecommunications and Information Administration] on identifying 800 megahertz of spectrum – 300 megahertz of which is not specifically confined to Federal spectrum – for high-power, licensed commercial operations. That spectrum should not come from CBRS," wrote WISPA Vice President of Policy Louis Peraertz to the FCC.