5G SALE Act signed; T-Mo can get its 2.5 GHz licenses

FCC’s auction authority has yet to be reinstated by Congress

It literally took an act of Congress, but T-Mobile US will get access to the licenses the carrier won in 2022.

President Joe Biden has signed the 5G SALE Act, giving temporary authorization to the Federal Communications Commission to process the transfers of 2.5 GHz spectrum licenses.

The Federal Communications Commission’s statutory authority to auction licenses expired in early March 2023. As a result, the FCC stopped all auction-related activity—including processing the transfer of most of the licenses which had already been auctioned and paid for as part of the 2.5 GHz auction, which wrapped up in the fall of 2022. T-Mobile US had won more than 7,100 licenses in that auction—about 90% of those available—at a cost of about $304 million, but was unable to access them as a result. (The carrier had urged the FCC that it could still legally process post-auction licenses or grant access under special temporary authority.)

The 5G SALE Act authorizes the FCC to process the long-form applications and transfer the licenses—but it does not fully reinstate the regulator’s auction authority, which telecom industry players (including T-Mobile US) and a variety of organizations have been advocating for since the FCC’s authority expired.

Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) President and CEO Patrick Halley responded to the signing of the legislation with a statement that said, in part: “While I appreciate that the rightful winners of the 2.5 GHz licenses will no longer be held hostage, it’s imperative that Congress restore the FCC’s auction authority with a long-term reauthorization. Anything less will continue to hamper the advancement of America’s mobile communications and put us in the competitive backseat against China and other global competitors.”