Opponents to D.C. Circuit: FCC Plan for More FirstNet Spectrum Unlawful

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2025 – Opponents of the Federal Communications Commission plan to open up more spectrum to FirstNet continued to argue the move would be illegal in Monday briefs to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

“Congress prescribed a specific operating role for FirstNet and a circumscribed support role for the Commission,” the Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure argued in a reply brief. “The Commission may not override Congress’s statutory scheme with an unprecedented workaround in which the Commission grants an overlay license to a sham Band Manager to pass through spectrum to FirstNet and AT&T.”

AT&T operates FirstNet, a nationwide network for first responders, through a contract with the Commerce Department. CERCI, which represents the other major carriers and other opponents of the FCC plan, has argued that FirstNet can’t operate outside the 700 MegaHertz (MHz) band set aside for it in 2012 and that the FCC can’t assign spectrum to a federal entity.