FCC Advances Upper C Band Auction, Seeks Aviation Safety Protections

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3 to 0 on Thursday to advance plans for an auction of Upper C Band spectrum, a decisive step intended to make more airwaves available to wireless carriers while defusing the type of confrontation between telecoms and aviation regulators that snarled travel in 2022. The agency said the move is aimed at accelerating commercial rollout of 5G and preparing the ground for 6G, while addressing risks to aviation safety systems that operate on nearby frequencies.

The FCC said it is weighing whether some proceeds from the planned auction should be put toward helping airlines replace or upgrade radio altimeters that regulators found could be vulnerable to interference from high power wireless transmissions. Altimeter interference was a flash point three years ago when aviation authorities and wireless firms clashed over the proximity of newly activated 5G signals to airport operations, prompting delays and temporary service restrictions at some U.S. airports.

Regulators are approaching the sale with those lessons in mind. The Federal Aviation Administration plans to adopt updated radio altimeter standards ahead of the auction, a move intended to increase the resilience of aircraft instruments and reduce the chance of operational disruptions. The FCC’s decision formalizes a path that coordinates spectrum allocation with aviation mitigation measures rather than treating the two priorities as separate fights.

The auction authority was restored by Congress after a two year pause, and new law now requires the FCC to sell at least 100 megahertz of Upper C Band spectrum by July 2027. That timetable has injected urgency into the agency’s work to set the rules for the sale, determine geographic blocks and guard bands, and define how any funds earmarked for altimeter upgrades would be distributed. The FCC emphasized the timeline was set by statute and that meeting it would support both national competitiveness in wireless technology and predictable planning for airlines and equipment makers.

Wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers have pushed for more mid band spectrum like Upper C Band because it offers a compromise between coverage and capacity not easily matched by low or millimeter wave bands. Greater access to those frequencies is expected to speed consumer mobile broadband, expand rural connectivity, and underpin emerging industrial and internet of things applications that rely on low latency and high throughput.

At the same time the financial and logistical burden of retrofitting or replacing radio altimeters rests uneasily in a negotiation between public safety, private industry, and Congress. Using auction proceeds to defray conversion costs would be one way to reduce friction, but questions remain about how much would be required, how funds would be allocated, and how quickly upgrades could be certified and deployed across the nation’s fleet.

The FCC framed the vote as a balanced approach to two pressing national priorities, moving to unlock spectrum while coordinating with aviation authorities to prevent a repeat of past disruptions. The agency will now begin the detailed rulemaking and scheduling that will shape the auction and the mitigation measures that accompany it.