Advocates of sharing in the citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) and 6 GHz bands remain concerned that parts of those bands could be reallocated for full-power licensed use, but decisions probably won’t be made for some time, Disruptive Analysis consultant Dean Bubley said Tuesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Bubley and Dave Wright, policy director for Spectrum for the Future, said CBRS offers unique capabilities that many users want and that help the U.S. compete with China.
The cable industry has embarked on a "bizarre" strategy of trying to prevent spectrum auctions and starve fixed-wireless access (FWA) of more spectrum rights, High Tech Forum founder Richard Bennett wrote Wednesday. FWA providers are excited about the 800 MHz target for new spectrum licenses, as laid out in Congress' budget reconciliation package, previously called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, he said. Cable's response is "positioning itself as the one true champion of Wi-Fi, the presumed loser from the OBBB auction plan." However, he said, "Wi-Fi doesn’t care what technologies users employ for Internet access. Wi-Fi simply connects devices in a home or office to each other. Telcos need -- and use -- Wi-Fi for the same reason cable does: to convenience its customers."
NTIA is going to look into excessive screen use in schools by youths, with an eye toward what federal policies and incentives might be contributing to the problem, NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth said Tuesday at a Free State Foundation event. NTIA will also look at what market dynamics and marketing efforts are driving excessive screen use, she said.
WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman Claus Hetting slammed a recent opinion by the European Commission’s Radio Spectrum Policy Group that recommends using the upper 6 GHz band spectrum for licensed wide area coverage by carriers (see 2511170020). “Has the process of spectrum regulation in Europe finally lost its last semblance of legitimacy?” Hetting asked this week. “We can only speculate that the mobile industry knows very well that the upper 6 GHz band is largely useless for mobile -- and that the real tactic here is to keep the spectrum away from its rightful place, which is Wi-Fi.”
GSMA on Monday welcomed an opinion by the European Commission’s Radio Spectrum Policy Group that recommends using the upper 6 GHz band spectrum for licensed wide area coverage by carriers. The opinion “marks a positive step toward building a robust spectrum roadmap for the launch of 6G in Europe,” GSMA said. “Europe needs to strengthen its position in quality, speed and resilience of mobile networks and to remain competitive against other major markets -- in particular East Asia, the Gulf and the USA.” In the U.S., the 6 GHz band is dedicated to unlicensed use.
Fixed wireless access (FWA) isn't a temporary product "but something that's here to stay," as improving mobile technology means more "fallow capacity" that T-Mobile can use, COO Srinivasan Gopalan said Thursday as the carrier announced quarterly results. His comments came a day after AT&T told analysts that it plans to beef up its FWA service starting next year using EchoStar's 3.45 GHz band spectrum. Cable ISPs have said they expect to see FWA competition ebbing as wireless carriers deploy their spectrum more for mobile uses (see 2501310005).
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said Thursday that he opposes language in the Senate's FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act version (S-2296) that would give the DOD and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman authority to essentially veto commercial use of the 3.1-3.45 and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands. Hudson said during a Punchbowl News event that his next priority as Communications chair will be to enact legislation aimed at easing broadband permitting rules, despite Democrats’ recent criticism of a mostly GOP-led set of proposals during a Sept. 18 hearing (see 2509180069).
A tug-of-war is continuing in the Senate over language from the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (S-2296) that Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said last month would give the DOD and the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman excessive authority to veto commercial use of the 3.1-3.45 and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands (see 2509100064). The Senate Armed Services Committee approved the spectrum language in Section 1564, but Cruz filed an amendment in September to remove the proposal. He's also negotiating to remove it as part of a manager's amendment (see 2509110073). The House-passed FY26 NDAA (HR-3838) doesn't include similar language.
The citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) band has moved beyond the experimental stage and demonstrated its effectiveness, Salt Point Strategies’ Dave Wright said last week during a webinar hosted by consulting firm Senza Fili. CBRS “works,” said Wright, former president of the OnGo Alliance, which promotes the CBRS. “We’ve been doing it for five years. We’ve got 420,000 base station radios operating in the band,” and “we’ve had zero reports of interference” to the military systems that share the spectrum.
The Trump administration is making its support increasingly clear for dedicating the 6 GHz band to Wi-Fi, WifiForward Executive Director Mary Brown said Wednesday. The FCC dedicated the band to unlicensed use during the first Trump administration and has indicated continued support for that position, but that doesn’t mean issues have gone away, she said. Brown and other officials spoke during a Broadband Breakfast webinar on the outlook for the next World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027.