Unlicensed

The Federal Communications Commission's coming auction of the upper C-band for 5G and 6G and possible direct-to-device use cases will require incumbents to vacate that spectrum and pursue alternatives such as terrestrial fiber and Ku-band satellites.

The Federal Communications Commission has been tasked by Congress to find and auction 800 megahertz of mid-range spectrum. This was a key element of the One Big Beautiful Bill that planned to use the proceeds from spectrum auctions to offset other costs created by the bill. The bill specifically requires the FCC to auction 100 megahertz of spectrum in the upper C-Band, located at 3.98 – 4.2 GHz. The new requirement to auction that spectrum has resulted in a strong response from the aviation industry and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Ultimately, ensuring network resiliency and security is a shared responsibility. Interagency and industry coordination is paramount. The Federal Communications Commission has an important role to play working with its federal partners, industry, and Congress, on a range of issues, including: reevaluating outage reporting to reflect modern networks; strengthening transparency around supply-chain risks; and supporting responsible space and satellite growth.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted an Order to enhance unlicensed use in the 6 gigahertz (GHz) band. The FCC will create a new category of unlicensed devices—geofenced variable power devices—that can operate both indoors and outdoors at higher power than previously authorized devices. This action enables consumers to benefit from supercharged Wi-Fi and a new generation of wireless devices—from Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality and Internet of Things to a range of innovative smart devices.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the January Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, January 29, 2026:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the FCC will vote on an Order to enhance unlicensed use in the 6 Gigahertz (GHz) band. Specifically, the FCC will vote to create a new category of unlicensed devices—GVP devices—that can operate outdoors and at higher power than previously authorized devices. The FCC’s action on 6 GHz promises more innovations and consumer benefits for years to come, driving growth in wireless, internet of things (IoT), and related industries.

The Citizens Broadband Radio Service band and its shared-use model has opened the door to multiple deployment use cases, including cable operator wireless offloading in high-usage areas to keep MVNO costs in check, a few fixed wireless access deployments, and an array of private network rollouts. Charter Communications, which has already deployed CBRS in several markets, is taking things a step further with its ongoing "Fiber-powered DAS" initiative, which is fo

2025 has been a year for the Citizens Broadband Radio Service ecosystem. It started off with CBRS users fending off a proposal by AT&T to upend the entire CBRS ecosystem and move it from its current home at 3.5 GHz down to the lower 3 GHz.

The big cellular carriers are devoting a huge amount of network resources to fixed-wireless access (FWA) while reaping only small financial benefits. FWA use may already account for more than half of the traffic on the Verizon cellular network while only accounting for 3% of Verizon’s revenues. FWA makes up only 6% of T-Mobile’s revenues. The difference in monthly data usage between cell customers and home broadband customers is immense. CTIA, the association for cellular carriers, recently reported that the average cell customer uses 17.2 gigabytes of data per month on cellular networks.

This week, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved 19 state and territory Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program Final Proposals (18 of them on Tuesday and Texas on Thursday), another step towards states breaking ground on BEAD-funded broadband deployment.