Funding Secured for 2.7 GHz Studies, NTIA Says
The agency is looking to open federal spectrum to commercial mobile use.
WASHINGTON, April 14, 2026 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration said Tuesday it had nearly secured funding to study whether about 200 megahertz of federal spectrum could be opened up for commercial wireless use.
The agency said it cleared spectrum relocation plans and cost estimates put together by agencies that use the 2.69-2.9 GigaHertz (GHz) band. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget will send those plans to Congress, setting off a 60-day review before funding will be released to those agencies.
“This approval enables the two primary federal users of the band – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration – to incorporate spectrum repurposing into their ongoing procurement of modernized radar systems, which will strengthen aviation safety and weather monitoring while improving spectral efficiency,” the agency said in a release.
NTIA administrator Arielle Roth said recently that the FAA was “very eager to work with us to identify spectrum in that band.”
In July last year, Congress tasked NTIA with finding 500 megahertz of federal spectrum to auction for mobile use. To meet that goal the agency is looking at the 2.7 GHz band, as well as the 4.4-4.9 GHz, 7.125-7.4 GHz, and 1.675-1.695 GHz bands.
Money for agency studies in the 7 GHz band was secured during the Biden administration as part of an existing push to open federal spectrum for commercial use. Tricia Paoletta, the agency’s senior advisor for spectrum, said last month that the process of clearing relocation plans and accessing funding for the 4.4 GHz studies should be completed by this summer or fall.
“The Technical Panel’s approval does more than unlock access to funds from the [Spectrum Relocation Fund] – it establishes a clear, executable roadmap for the engineering studies that must be completed for NTIA to identify spectrum for repurposing while protecting critical federal missions,” NTIA wrote.
The SRF funding comes from past FCC spectrum auctions. NTIA was given $50 million under the July budget legislation to conduct its own analysis of certain bands, including the 7 GHz and 2.7 Ghz spectrum currently being targeted.
The White House emphasized it was the 7 Ghz spectrum cleared for mobile use in a December memo. The wireless carriers want the US to push for that view internationally at a global spectrum conference next year, which the cable industry is opposed to.
Both Paoletta and Roth said in webinars last month that getting agency relocation plans together was a major part of federal spectrum studies. They said it can be difficult to ascertain the cost of new gear, which often has to be custom-made to fit an agency’s use case.
Some systems simply need to continue functioning in exactly the same way to keep people safe, and agencies might not have an existing plan for how to accomplish that with spectrum other than what they’re currently using, they said.
NTIA has already identified 5 megahertz in the 1.675-1.695 GHz band, also used by NOAA, for mobile use. The agency said in a February letter to the FCC that the NOAA could continue to use the band while letting in mobile providers.
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