Carriers, Aviation at Odds on WRC Positions
Aviation stakeholders fear interference from expanded mobile use
WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2026 – The wireless carriers and aviation industry are at odds on how the U.S. should approach the World Radiocommunication Conference in Shanghai next year.
WRC agenda item 1.7 concerns whether to identify the 4.4 GigaHertz (GHz), 7/8 GHz, and 15 GHz bands for licensed mobile use globally. American interests have been unable to reach a consensus, as the wireless carriers want the U.S. delegation to push for a mobile allocation and spectrum sharing proponents would rather hold off.
The aviation industry also doesn’t want the 4.4 GHz band identified for mobile use, multiple trade groups and organizations said in Tuesday comments to the Federal Communications Commission.
The main concern of Airlines for America, which represents the major airlines, and the Aerospace Industries Association, which represents aircraft manufacturers and suppliers, was the timeline of a determination adopted at WRC-27.
A change adopted at the conference would take effect on Jan. 1, 2029. That’s not ideal, the aviation interests said, because airplane altimeters use spectrum in the 4.4 GHz band.
Next-generation gear is expected to handle interference much better, but it’s still in development and American planes won’t be completely retrofitted until 2034 (a timeline agreed upon to accommodate an FCC spectrum auction just below the band next year). In other countries there isn’t a timeline yet, the groups wrote.
“An identification effective in 2029 would thus arrive in an environment where the overwhelming majority of the global fleet has no protection beyond whatever each administration independently elects to impose,” the groups wrote.
The two groups said they weren’t taking the position that 4.4 Ghz could never be used for wireless service, but that they wanted a decision deferred until at least the WRC after next year’s, which will be in 2031.
Other global and U.S. aviation groups, plus Boeing and Lockheed Martin, submitted similar comments saying the U.S. delegation shouldn’t push for a mobile allocation in 4.4 GHz next year.
NCTA, which represents the cable industry and has previously said the U.S. delegation should oppose mobile use in the 4.4 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands, had not submitted a filing as of the FCC’s comment system update Wednesday.
The 4.4 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands are occupied in part by government agencies in the U.S. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which manages federal spectrum and serves as the White House’s top telecom advisor, is studying them with the aim of opening up some airwaves up for auction.
The agency has told the FCC it thinks the lower part of 7/8 GHz could be allocated for mobile use, but hasn’t officially opined on 4.4 GHz for WRC.
The FCC is looking to have positions finalized by the end of November, when regulators from North and South America will next meet to hammer out agreements ahead of WRC.
Carriers support expanding mobile designation
In the view of the wireless carriers, the U.S. should push for mobile allocations in both the 4.4 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands. They pointed to a White House memo from December that called for identifying 7.125-7.4 GHz for mobile use and studying 4.4 GHz to determine how much could be opened up.
The memo also said the U.S. should build an international coalition to support its ultimate view on item 1.7.
“CTIA supports the President’s directive,” the wireless trade group wrote. “With the potential for ultrawide bandwidths, these bands are capable of supporting future technology and network needs.”
The group said the 4 GHz band was “one of the few realistic opportunities
to create the wide contiguous licensed channels needed for future AI-native 6G deployments.”
It also noted that Brazil had proposed identifying all of the 7/8 GHz band for mobile use, and said it was “vital that the United States submit a proposal to avoid being excluded from the debate.”
Much of the band is used for missile defense systems and other national security projects in the U.S., and 7.4-8.4 GHz has been blocked from auction by Congress.
CTIA said the U.S. should put forward a proposal that mirrors the domestic plan for 7.125-7.4 GHz “while providing flexibility to align with global partners” on the issue.
The national wireless carriers each submitted their own comments in support of mobile designations, as did suppliers Nokia, Qualcomm, and Ericsson.
Verizon, Ericsson, and Qualcomm supported both 4.4 GHz and 7.125-7.4 GHz, while T-Mobile and AT&T stuck with 4.4 GHz and Nokia stuck with 7.125-7.4 GHz.
As for the aviation concerns, AT&T said there was “no reason for the U.S. to wait” for an international altimeter transition plan or for WRC-31, because of the agreed upon retrofit schedule in the U.S. The first deadline for essential aircraft is in 2030, with the full retrofit set to finish in 2034.
“The problem they are considering — the inability of some current radio altimeters to adequately reject signals from adjacent channels — will have been resolved before then through the efforts of the FCC, the FAA and the aviation industry themselves,” the company wrote.
