Cruz Asks for Wireless Industry Help on Spectrum Pipeline
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, this week urged the wireless industry to rally behind his push to make a spectrum title part of the budget reconciliation package before Congress. Cruz was among the last of the speakers at CTIA’s 5G Summit on Tuesday (see 2505060036).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
“We are in the midst of one big, beautiful bill, and I will tell you the commerce title that is being drafted in the Commerce Committee, it is a central priority that we are going to restore auction authority, and we are going to free up a pipeline to make spectrum available to the commercial sector,” Cruz said. The U.S. is in a technology race against China, he said: “If we fail to lead the world in 5G and 6G, it will be Huawei that creates the backbone of tomorrow's global communications networks, not America or its allies.”
“Everyone in this room has a vested interest in seeing auction authority restored and seeing a robust pipeline made available for auction,” Cruz added. “I am fighting tooth and nail," but "I need your help" to get the spectrum language "across the finish line."
Cruz declined to comment as he left the summit on whether the title will include lower 3 GHz spectrum, sought by carriers but seen as critical by the U.S. military (see 2505020047). “I’m going to keep our discussions and negotiations with the parties involved rather than try to negotiate through the press,” he told reporters.