The FCC continues to look for more ways to free up spectrum per Congressional mandate and recently unveiled a plan that would make the 12 GHz and 42 GHz bands available for satellite connectivity.
Impact: The FCC plans to vote at its open meeting on September 30 on two spectrum-related items, one tied to satellite spectrum abundance and the other involving rules modernization around unlicensed ultra-wideband spectrum. According to Chairman Brendan Carr, both orders will “push more commercial spectrum into the marketplace than ever before,” which he said will unleash additional innovation and help promote economic growth. Both spectrum orders are a result of a legislative mandate dating back to last summer that requires the FCC to find as much as 800 MHz of spectrum to auction by mid-2030. The FCC already has an upper C-band spectrum in the works (that spectrum is required by law to be auctioned by July 2027) and has outlined a strategy that would create a spectrum Super Band by combining the upper and lower C-band.
The spectrum abundance order involves more than 1,000 MHz of spectrum in the 12 GHz and 42 GHz bands related to residential satellite broadband connectivity and in-flight and on-ship connectivity. The FCC also included as much as 1,459 MHz of spectrum in the Ku- and Ka-
bands and another 138.25 GHz in the D-band, again for satellite connectivity. Carr, who said the order around spectrum abundance will ensure consumers “benefit from competitive, high-speed Internet delivered from next-gen satellites,” considers the 12 GHz band “underused” and has been eyeing it as an option for satellite connectivity for a couple years. He previously blamed restrictions on satellite services for the lack of 12 GHz usage but now that the FCC has changed and modernized much of its rules framework around satellite connectivity, the band appears ripe for satellite activity. Prior to Carr’s chairmanship, the FCC investigated the 12 GHz band for terrestrial wireless but nothing ever came of that as the agency couldn’t come to a consensus as to how to put it to use for 5G. As for the mmWave 42 MHz band, LightReading reported it could potentially be used for spectrum sharing.
The proposal around unlicensed ultra wideband involves spectrum used for IoT device connectivity and would modernize the rules to enable more devices to use the spectrum, including those with AI-sensing capabilities. The FCC likes that UWB supports “high data rates, precise location capabilities,” and can co-exist with other services across a range of spectrum bands. Carr also said the UWB spectrum is “seamlessly woven” into everyday life, including in things like automobile safety features, key fobs, package tracking capabilities, and door locks. The FCC rules around UWB date to 2002 and Carr wants to refine and modernize them to meet today’s technology needs. The effort also relates to 6G, because AI-enabled sensing plays a role in the still developing 6G standard.
The FCC also plans to look at permitting reform, particularly regulations around the National Environmental Policy Act, where Carr wants to loosen the interpretation of what constitutes a major federal action and thus trigger a NEPA review. Per Carr, these changes would help accelerate network and infrastructure buildouts and reduce regulatory costs for broadband providers and wireless carriers related to their deployments. It also should help speed up those buildouts and eliminate any potential that a NEPA review interferes with “a range of innovative space-based activities regulated by the FCC,” per Carr. Streamlining regulations to speed up deployments will likely continue under this FCC as it works to establish additional spectrum auctions in 2028, with one reportedly planned in the 2.7 GHz band and two additional unidentified bands.
