FCC Pitches 25 MHz Mid-Band Auction, Simpler Satellite-to-Phone Rules, and 800 MHz for Drones
The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a new mid-band spectrum auction, a rewrite of its direct-to-device rules, and opening the 800 MHz cellular band to drones.
The three items are framed as proposals to advance, not as final rules. The Commission plans to put them to a vote later this month, with a vote scheduled for October 29 on whether to advance a new wireless spectrum auction Reuters.
The direct-to-device proposal would overhaul existing D2D service rules to allow more flexible terrestrial, satellite, and hybrid business arrangements. D2D means an ordinary handset links directly to a satellite, with no dish or add-on radio. The language matters for engineers and operators. Current frameworks tend to force a choice between a terrestrial license and a satellite authorization, each with its own coordination requirements. A hybrid path would allow commercial deals that combine both without re-licensing the underlying operation from scratch.
The second proposal would auction 25 megahertz of mid-band spectrum for flexible-use terrestrial networks, innovative direct-to-device operations, or a hybrid of both. Think of spectrum as lanes on a public highway, with mid-band lanes prized because they balance range and capacity. The auction as described would cover 25 megahertz in the 1675-1695 MHz and 2020-2025 MHz bands FCC.
That is a small auction by recent standards. The pairing is also specific. The 1675-1695 MHz segment sits adjacent to meteorological-satellite use, while 2020-2025 MHz sits adjacent to mobile-satellite and PCS-adjacent operations. Any flexible-use winner will need to manage limits on signal spillover into neighboring bands, coordinate with existing users, and meet power and antenna rules that differ sharply between ground base stations and satellite uplinks. The FCC has not yet published those technical rules. The October vote is on whether to move the auction proposal forward.
Drone access to cellular spectrum
The third proposal would allow drones to operate on the 800 MHz cellular band Engadget.
Drones are currently prohibited from using the 800 MHz cellular frequency. The proposed change would open about 50 megahertz for UAV use on that band.
The 800 MHz cellular band is already deployed for wide-area LTE and 5G coverage, with established tower grids, filters, and radio parts. Use of that spectrum for command-and-control links or data such as video and telemetry would let uncrewed aircraft attach to existing networks rather than depend solely on dedicated aviation links or unlicensed spectrum such as Wi-Fi bands. It also raises coexistence questions that the FCC will need to address in comments and technical review, including air-to-ground interference patterns, handovers at altitude and speed, and protection of ground users from airborne uplink transmissions.
Pipeline and recent history
The three proposals do not stand alone. The FCC is separately implementing an auction of up to 180 megahertz of Upper C-band mid-band spectrum by July 2027. It also completed a $3.5 billion auction of 200 licenses in the AWS-3 band, a result reported in July 2026.
That recent activity follows a thinner period for auction policy. Congress allowed the Commission's spectrum auction authority to lapse in March 2023, the first lapse in three decades. In March 2024, U.S. senators proposed legislation requiring the Commission to auction at least 1,250 megahertz of spectrum for full-power commercial wireless services, including 5G. An earlier FCC consideration, noted in October 2023, involved teeing up mid-band spectrum in the 12.7-13.25 GHz band for next-generation services at the October 27 open meeting that year.
Separately, the Commission estimated the cost of removing insecure telecom equipment at $4.98 billion, a figure reported in December 2024 in connection with congressional funding for rip-and-replace.
The broader context here is a return to routine spectrum supply after disruption. Auction authority, technical coordination with federal incumbents, and funding for network security all stalled or slowed at different points in 2023 and 2024. What the October proposals suggest is an attempt to restart parallel tracks at once: mid-band for ground and space-ground use, cellular spectrum for aviation use, and rules that let operators blend those models.
In my view, the most consequential element for practitioners is not the 25 megahertz quantity. It is the hybrid framing. Terrestrial carriers, satellite operators, and equipment vendors have spent the last three years testing D2D link budgets, antenna performance, and standards integration. The bottleneck has been less about physics than about service rules that map poorly to systems where the base station is in orbit and the handset is unmodified. If the FCC creates a licensing path where terrestrial, satellite, or combined operations can use the same allocation under one flexible-use framework, chipset support, network planning, and roaming and handover design become simpler to productize.
Worth flagging for UAV developers is a parallel shift in product choices. Cellular-connected drones have been technically feasible for years, but the ban on specific bands limited design options. Access to about 50 megahertz in 800 MHz would give flight controllers and video and telemetry systems licensed airwaves with better building and terrain penetration than higher bands. I have watched my own children adopt drones first as toys and later as tools for photography and inspection work, and that transition from novelty to utility is usually when spectrum and reliability rules start to matter. The same pattern applied to Wi-Fi, to mobile data, and to cloud-backed mobile apps. Utility demands predictable connectivity.
Looking at what this means for deployment timelines, readers should keep expectations tied to procedure. The October 29 vote is on advancement, not adoption. Auction design, band plans, interference criteria, bidding procedures, and D2D coordination rules will follow through further rulemaking and comment. The Upper C-band auction target of July 2027 gives a sense of the cadence. Mid-band auctions require federal coordination and detailed technical orders, and D2D hybrid operations will require close work on emission limits and incumbent protection.
The optimistic note is that flexibility tends to compound. A single 25-megahertz auction will not resolve capacity constraints. A reusable rule that lets terrestrial and satellite systems share an allocation, and a precedent for letting airborne systems use commercial cellular bands under defined technical limits, could shape many later allocations. For engineers building radios, core networks, and flight systems, that is the part to watch in the forthcoming notices and comments.
