Trusty: FCC ‘All In’ on U.S. Wireless Leadership

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2025 – Federal Communications Commissioner Olivia Trusty framed wireless leadership as an economic and national security imperative, saying Wednesday the FCC was “all in.”

In remarks to the Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas, Trusty called wireless “the connective tissue linking every sector of our economy,” and said decisive spectrum policy was essential to sustaining U.S. competitiveness in the industry.

“This isn’t just an economic imperative; it’s a national security one. Other nations have made 5G and 6G part of their industrial and military strategies,” Trusty said.

The Republican regulator pointed to the FCC’s plan to make at least 100 megahertz of spectrum in the Upper C-Band available for high-power licensed use within two years, calling it a cornerstone of America’s next-generation network strategy. Major wireless carriers have urged the agency to double that allocation to roughly 220 megahertz.

“This band has the potential to turbocharge 5G, pave the way for 6G, and give U.S. providers the spectrum they need to compete globally,” Trusty said. 

She urged industry and policymakers alike to go all in on the next generation of technologies, like 6G, AI-native networks, open RAN, and space-based connectivity, which will define what Trusty called a new “Golden Age of Communications.”

“The bottom line is that spectrum policy is not just telecom policy anymore. It’s technology policy, economic policy, and national security policy rolled into one,” Trusty said. “No area better demonstrates the need for leadership than spectrum policy.”

Trusty also voiced support for Chairman Brendan Carr’s “Build America Agenda” which seeks to streamline broadband deployment rules, free up more spectrum for wireless, and maintain U.S. leadership in critical technologies like 5G and 6G. She also praised Carr’s deregulatory initiative, dubbed ‘Delete, Delete, Delete.’

Trusty, a Trump nominee who took her seat on June 23, 2025, joined the conference virtually from Washington amid the ongoing federal government shutdown, which has limited travel for some agency officials. The same constraints kept Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez from attending another major industry gathering in Las Vegas this week, WISPApalooza.