Winning the 6G Race

It means taking a frequency band that is now reserved mainly for federal government radios and turning it into an exclusive, high‑power band that private companies can license and use for 6G networks.

In practice that usually involves:

• Clearing or moving federal systems out of 7.125–7.4 GHz (or tightly protecting any that stay) so they don’t interfere with 6G.
• Reclassifying the band from federal to non‑federal/commercial in the national allocation tables.
• Auctioning exclusive licenses for that band (typically by the FCC) so mobile operators can deploy wide‑area, “full‑power” base stations, not just low‑power or indoor‑only devices like Wi‑Fi.

“Full‑power commercial licensed use” contrasts with unlicensed or low‑power shared use: licensees get defined interference protections and can run higher‑power, carrier‑grade 5G/6G networks across large geographic areas.

As of July 30, 2025, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information is Arielle Roth, who also serves as Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

Under Department Organizational Order 10‑10 and 47 U.S.C. §305(a), this position:

• Heads NTIA, the executive‑branch agency that advises the President on communications policy.
• Assigns radio frequencies and manages spectrum for “radio stations belonging to and operated by the United States,” meaning federal spectrum users.
• Makes frequency allocations and spectrum‑use policies for the executive branch and coordinates with the FCC on the National Table of Frequency Allocations.

That is why the 6G memorandum directs the Assistant Secretary to study relocating federal systems and to identify bands for commercial reallocation.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119‑21, H.R. 1, 119th Congress) is a large 2025 budget‑reconciliation law that put most of President Trump’s second‑term tax, spending, and policy agenda into statute. Among many things, it extends the 2017 tax cuts and creates a multi‑band “spectrum pipeline” for future wireless auctions.

Within Section 40002, “Spectrum auctions”:

• §40002(c)(2)(A) directs the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information (head of NTIA) to identify specific bands of federal spectrum for reallocation to non‑federal (commercial) use, as part of at least 500 MHz of federal mid‑band spectrum that must be prepared for auction. The 6G memo implements this by ordering NTIA to identify 7.125–7.4 GHz for full‑power commercial licensed use.
• §40002(f) requires the Assistant Secretary to commence technical studies of additional bands—including 2.69–2.9 GHz and 4.4–4.94 GHz—to determine whether portions can feasibly be reallocated for full‑power commercial licensed use. The 6G memo explicitly invokes this subsection when ordering those studies.

The precise statutory wording is only available in the enrolled text of H.R. 1, but public summaries and the White House memo consistently describe §40002 as re‑authorizing FCC auction authority and obligating NTIA and FCC to identify and study hundreds of megahertz of federal spectrum for commercial auctions.

Agenda Item 1.7 for the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2027 (WRC‑27) instructs governments and ITU‑R study groups to:

• Study sharing and compatibility between International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT – 5G/6G mobile) and existing “primary services” (satellite, fixed links, etc.)
• In the frequency ranges 4.4–4.8 GHz, 7.125–8.4 GHz (or parts of them), and 14.8–15.35 GHz.
• And then for WRC‑27 to consider those study results and, if appropriate, adopt technical conditions and possibly identify parts of those bands for IMT in the Radio Regulations.

In plain terms, AI 1.7 is where countries will argue over whether, and under what conditions, portions of 4.4–4.8 GHz and 7.125–8.4 GHz can become global 5G/6G “mid‑band” spectrum. The U.S. 6G memo tells the Secretary of State to build coalitions to support U.S. positions on this agenda item.

Open, unclassified sources indicate that 7.125–7.4 GHz is part of a broader 7.125–8.4 GHz band used primarily by U.S. federal agencies for:

• Fixed and mobile point‑to‑point microwave links (DoD and other federal users).
• Military satellite communications and telemetry (uplinks/downlinks around 7–8 GHz).
• Various Earth exploration and meteorological satellite services and some defense‑related radar and data links in adjacent segments.

The NTIA and industry analyses describe the overall 7.125–8.4 GHz range as “allocated to federal use” and “characterized by the presence of numerous federal systems,” especially defense and satellite operations.

Relocation impacts would likely include:

• Retuning or replacing radios and antennas, potentially moving many links and satellite functions into 7.4–8.4 GHz or other protected bands.
• Possible coverage gaps or degraded performance for military communications if not carefully engineered.
• Significant planning and testing to avoid interference with remaining federal and satellite services.

Because many details of specific defense systems are classified, public documents do not list every incumbent user; the memorandum therefore requires the relocation plan to show it will not “materially impair” national security missions, and it explicitly exempts certain satellite telemetry and radio‑astronomy sites from relocation.

The memorandum requires that, within 12 months, the Assistant Secretary’s relocation study “demonstrate how such relocation of systems will not materially impair the national security missions or electric grid operations” in 7.125–7.4 GHz, as identified by the Secretary of War and the Director of National Intelligence.

In practical terms, such studies normally:

• Inventory all federal and critical‑infrastructure systems in the band (defense, intelligence, energy‑sector control links, etc.).
• Model interference and coverage to show that proposed new frequencies (for example 7.4–8.4 GHz or other bands) can support the same mission performance.
• Define technical protections, such as exclusion zones, guard bands, emission limits, or protected sites, for any systems that cannot move.
• Include agency sign‑off (here, from defense/intelligence and energy authorities) that mission requirements and electric‑grid reliability are preserved.

The memo itself does not spell out a specific methodology, but this is the standard approach NTIA uses in relocation and sharing studies for other bands.

Section 2(b) of the memorandum directs the Assistant Secretary to submit estimated transition costs and timelines for relocating federal systems in 7.125–7.4 GHz. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s §40002 “Spectrum auctions” framework and long‑standing U.S. practice:

• Federal relocation costs are typically paid from spectrum‑auction proceeds. Congress authorizes the FCC to auction the new commercial licenses, and part of the revenue is placed into a relocation or spectrum‑management fund to reimburse agencies for new equipment, engineering, and testing.
• The cost estimates are developed by the affected agencies and NTIA, based on detailed equipment inventories, engineering analyses, and procurement plans, and then provided to the President and, via budget processes, to Congress.

The memo itself does not designate a specific payer, but by tying the action to §40002 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—which creates a spectrum‑auction pipeline and associated funding expectations—it strongly implies that auction revenues will cover most transition costs, consistent with prior federal spectrum reallocations.