Broadband Breakfast on February 5, 2025 - Next Steps for Spectrum Auction Renewal
At stake is the future of 5G deployment and potential spectrum sharing with military radar systems.

The Federal Communications Commission enters its third year without spectrum auction authority, marking an unprecedented pause in its decades-long role of managing America's airwaves. At stake is the future of 5G deployment and potential spectrum sharing with military radar systems. As FCC Chairman Brendan Carr takes the helm, and Republican lawmakers consider attaching auction authority to budget reconciliation, key questions emerge: Can bipartisan agreement be reached on auction terms and federal spectrum sharing? Will the FCC find alternative ways to manage spectrum without auction authority? And how will this regulatory limbo affect America's wireless future?

Panelists
- Michael Calabrese, Director, Wireless Future Program & Senior Advisor, Open Technology Institute at New America
- Jennifer McCarthy, telecommunications regulatory attorney
- Doug Brake, Assistant Vice President of Policy Communications, CTIA: The Wireless Association.
- Brooke Donilon, Vice President of Government Relations, NCTA
- Drew Clark (moderator), CEO and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast



Michael Calabrese directs Wireless Future, which is part of New America’s Open Technology Institute. New America is a nonpartisan policy institute based in Washington DC. Calabrese focuses on spectrum policy, wireless broadband, satellite and digital equity issues more broadly. He has served on the US Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) since 2009 and frequently participates in FCC proceedings on behalf of a broad coalition of consumer and other public interest organizations.
Jennifer McCarthy is a telecommunications regulatory attorney with over 30 years of experience in the wireless sector holding a variety of government affairs, business development, and operations positions for several of the industry’s leading technology innovators, including Federated Wireless, QUALCOMM, NextWave, and MVP Capital. Jennifer’s experience includes leading the regulatory and government affairs activities, interfacing with U.S. and national regulatory authorities worldwide, heading the regulatory advisory committee of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, and serving on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC). Jennifer has a B.A. in political science from Yale University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
Doug Brake is assistant vice president of policy communications at CTIA: The Wireless Association. He’s been engaged in broadband and spectrum policy for over ten years—before CTIA he worked at in government at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and before that at the innovation-focused think tank, the Information Technology and Innovation foundation.
Brooke Donilon has been the Vice President of Government Relations at NCTA – The Internet and Television Association for seven years. Before joining NCTA, she served as Chief of Staff for FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly and spent six years in the U.S. Congress, including as Deputy Chief of Staff for Senator Ron Johnson, where she oversaw communications for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. She holds a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law and a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication and American Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has two children, Maxwell (5) and Merritt (3).
Breakfast Media LLC CEO Drew Clark has led the Broadband Breakfast community since 2008. An early proponent of better broadband, better lives, he initially founded the Broadband Census crowdsourcing tool to collect and verify broadband data left unpublished by the Federal Communications Commission. As CEO and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media community advocating for higher-capacity internet everywhere through topical, timely and intelligent coverage. Clark also served as head of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, a state broadband initiative.
