Carr Advocates Release of More Spectrum as Deadline to Extend FCC Auction Authority Looms

WASHINGTON, November 15, 2022 – Commissioner Brendan Carr of the Federal Communications Commission on Monday advocated making available more spectrum for commercial use and urged the extension of the commission’s auction authority that expires next month.

“We’ve got to make…a great spectrum comeback,” Carr argued during a “fireside chat” hosted by the R Street Institute. “We’ve got to start matching that same pace and cadence that we saw [during Ajit Pai’s term as FCC chairman from 2017 to 2021].” Carr is, like Pai, a Republican.

Carr spoke highly of Pai’s record of acting on several spectrum bands, which includes the auction of 280 megahertz in the C-band – from 3.7–3.98 GigaHertz. Carr called the C-band, “the big kahuna.”

Since the FCC is an independent agency, largely driven by technical considerations, Congress was prudent to vest it with its spectrum authority, Carr argued. But that authority expires on December 16, after a continuing resolution signed by President Joe Biden extended the FCC’s ability to deliver on spectrum policies beyond the original September 30 deadline.

Such an expiration would be “unacceptable,” Carr said. “We have never had a lapse in this auction authority,” he added. “We need to continue to signal to the world and to our private sector that we know what we’re doing, we’re competent here, you can rely on a consistent pipeline of U.S. spectrum.”

In July, the House of Representatives passed the Spectrum Innovation Act, which would vest the commission with auction authority until March 2024.

Carr also praised the efforts of his colleague, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The FCC in October sought comment on the 12.7 GHz–13.25 GHz band, following the agency’s August announcement of the winners of the 2.5 GHz auction.

Congress can also act to free up spectrum now held by federal agencies that would be more productive if available to the marketplace, said Joe Kane, director of broadband and spectrum policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, on a panel following Carr’s remarks.

“Most of the spectrum, whether it’s for licensed or unlicensed, nowadays is going to have to come from federal agencies, and federal agencies are loath to give up the spectrum that they have,” Kane said.

In October, a senior spectrum advisor at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the entity that administers spectrum used by the federal government, said his agency will develop a “spectrum strategy,” the primary goal of which will be to make available more spectrum.