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Band repurposing studies

President Donald Trump declared in his December 2025 Presidential Memorandum on “Winning the 6G Race,” that the next generation of mobile communications networks (6G) “will be foundational to the national security, foreign policy, and economic prosperity of the United States.” He added, “It is the policy of the United States to lead the world in 6G development.”

The Trump Administration has acted with urgency – and in concert with Congress – to create a spectrum pipeline that will fuel U.S. leadership in 5G/6G. The 2025 Working Families Tax Cut Act (the WFTC Act) directed NTIA to find 500 megahertz of federal spectrum between 1.3 GHz and 10.5 GHz to repurpose to full-power commercial licensed use.

In response, NTIA is studying four key bands:

  • 1675-1695 MHz (the 1.6 GHz band)
  • 2700-2900 MHz (the 2.7 GHz band)
  • 4400-4940 MHz (the 4.4 GHz band)
  • 7125-7400 MHz (the lower 7 GHz band)
Visual graphic showing milestone progress for the spectrum studies across the four bands: 7 GHz, 4.4 GHz, 2.7 GHz, and 1.6 GHz. (as of 05/01/2026)
Visual graphic showing milestone progress for the spectrum studies across the four bands: 7 GHz, 4.4 GHz, 2.7 GHz, and 1.6 GHz. (as of 05/01/2026)

NTIA already has identified the first five megahertz (1675-1680 MHz) for repurposing to commercial use — a down-payment on the remainder of the 500 megahertz that will follow.

Federal agencies that use spectrum in these four bands have applied for, and are receiving, monies from the statutory “Spectrum Relocation Fund” (SRF) to determine how to repurpose this spectrum most effectively and efficiently. The Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act (CSEA), Title II of P.L. 108-494, created the SRF in December 2004 to provide funding to federal agencies for repurposing federal spectrum to make way for spectrum auctions. The SRF is funded through the proceeds of those auctions.

NTIA is committed to meeting or exceeding the ambitious timelines that President Trump and the WFTC Act set. The federal government is hard at work to find solutions that maximize spectrum use while protecting critical government missions.

Official portrait of Arielle Roth, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)

"Now the work shifts to us.  We have a mission: to build one big, beautiful spectrum pipeline that will deliver faster wireless networks, fuel innovation, and secure America’s position as the world’s technological powerhouse.”

-Arielle Roth, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator

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