The Federal Communications Commission is wasting no time unleashing the spectrum made available by President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency is preparing to auction 160 megahertz of Upper C-Band spectrum, one of the largest blocks of mid-band spectrum ever brought to market, and he’s doing it faster than anyone expected. That’s great news for customers, businesses, and the U.S. economy.
Restoring the FCC’s authority to auction spectrum licenses to the private sector was one of the many fantastic provisions of the Big Beauty that went largely unnoticed but has massive positive economic implications.
Chairman Carr wasted no time putting that authority to work. Making more prime spectrum available at auction is exactly the kind of pro-growth action businesses have been waiting for, enabling the U.S. to expand 5G and soon 6G technology, while ensuring American dominance in internet and artificial intelligence.
This auction is projected to generate over $400 billion in economic activity and support about 2.5 million American jobs, according to industry estimates. It will accomplish that by moving spectrum that was being largely wasted by government agencies into private hands in the fairest and most efficient way possible — by taking the highest bidder.
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