FCC Adopts Order to Initiate Upper C-Band Auction and Transition Process

On July 22, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) adopted a Report and Order, Order of Proposed Modification, and Order on Reconsideration (collectively, Order) that will make 160 megahertz of the 3.98–4.2 GHz band (Upper C-band) available for terrestrial wireless use in the contiguous United States via a system of competitive bidding and establish a largely harmonized 440-megahertz "super band" from 3.7–4.14 GHz suitable for next-generation terrestrial wireless services. The Order was adopted over a partial dissent and follows from a draft version of the order that was publicly released on July 1, 2026 (Draft Order). The Order represents a crucial step toward fulfilling the directive in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to "complet[e] a system of competitive bidding ... for not less than 100 megahertz in the band between 3.98 gigahertz and 4.2 gigahertz" by July 4, 2027. The Order also builds on the proposals in the Commission's 2025 Notice of Inquiry and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) as well as the framework that the Commission previously used to successfully transition the Lower C-band for terrestrial wireless use. According to the Order, these actions will "put America on a path toward massive gains that could result in at least $264 billion in GDP, 1.5 million new jobs, and $388 billion in consumer surplus."

Key Takeaways

• The Order reallocates 160 megahertz of Upper C-band spectrum (3.98–4.14 GHz) for licensed terrestrial wireless use and establishes a contiguous 440 megahertz band for the 3.7 GHz Service.
• The Commission adopts licensing and auction rules for the Upper C-band that are largely consistent with the Lower C-band framework as well as generally harmonized technical and service rules for the combined 3.7 GHz Service.
• The Order establishes a mandatory transition framework for incumbent Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) operations, including reimbursement obligations for new licensees and incentive payments for eligible space station operators.
• The Order preserves the existing "closed universe" of incumbent earth stations established in the Lower C-band proceeding and maintains the existing freeze on applications for new or modified earth station licenses and registrations in the band. Incumbent earth station operators will have the option of selecting either cost reimbursement or lump sum payments on a site-by-site basis.
• The transition schedule requires clearing of the top 75 Partial Economic Areas (PEAs) in the contiguous United States by December 30, 2030 (Primary Transition Deadline), with wireless operations eligible to commence on December 31, 2030. The remaining PEAs in the contiguous United States must be cleared by June 30, 2031 (Final Transition Deadline), with wireless operations eligible to commence by July 1, 2031, or earlier. Reimbursement and incentive eligibility are tied to compliance with the Transition Deadlines.
• The Order establishes a comprehensive framework for coexistence between 3.7 GHz Service licensees and adjacent band radio altimeters, including revised technical rules for terrestrial wireless operations, Transition Deadlines aligned with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) altimeter retrofit schedule, and a rebate program to support eligible radio altimeter retrofits. On July 24, 2026, the FAA issued a final rule requiring radio altimeters to meet specified interference-tolerance standards, with retrofit deadlines of December 30, 2030, and October 31, 2034.

Potentially Affected Stakeholders

The Order will have a significant impact on a wide range of current and future users of the Upper C-band and adjacent bands, including:

• Incumbent FSS operators currently providing Upper C-band services in the contiguous United States, including incumbent space station operators and incumbent earth station operators.
• Existing users of C-band satellite services, including broadcasters, content providers, multichannel video programming distributors, federal users, and other contractual customers that rely on FSS operations.
• Existing terrestrial wireless licensees in the Lower C-band, including operators that could be affected by the reconfiguration of the 3.7 GHz Service.
• Aircraft owners and operators that use radio altimeters in the adjacent 4.2–4.4 GHz band, including operators subject to FAA retrofit requirements.

Spectrum Reconfiguration and Auction Framework

Reallocation. The Order adds a primary nonfederal mobile, except aeronautical mobile, allocation to the 4.0–4.16 GHz portion of the band nationwide and removes the FSS allocation from this portion of the band within the contiguous United States. The Order also designates a guard band from 4.14–4.16 GHz to ensure effective coexistence with remaining FSS operations in the 4.16–4.2 GHz band. Consistent with the proposals in the NPRM, the Order preserves the current operating environment outside the contiguous United States.

Licensing rules. The Commission establishes a band plan for the Upper C-band that consists of eight 20-megahertz unpaired blocks. Upper C-band licenses will be issued on a Partial Economic Area (PEA) basis in the contiguous United States, with 15-year license terms. Consistent with the Commission's stated goal of creating a unified 3.7 GHz Service, the licensing and operating rules governing these licenses generally mirror the Lower C-band framework.

The Order, however, departs from the Lower C-band framework with regard to performance requirements for licensees in material ways, including:

• Disallowing the use of alternative metrics for internet of things applications, fixed point-to-point operations, or private internal network operations to meet buildout and coverage requirements
• Measuring the performance timeframe from the relevant Transition Deadline (Primary or Final) for each PEA.
• Failure to meet the first performance benchmarks will accelerate the second performance benchmark by one-year.
• Failure to meet the second performance benchmark will result in automatic termination of the license in the affected license area.

Auction framework. For the licenses in the newly reconfigured 3.98–4.14 GHz segment, the FCC will auction licenses using its existing Part 1 competitive bidding rules, with auction-specific mechanics largely aligned with those used in the Lower C-band auction.

The Order establishes the overarching auction framework, in which the FCC:

• Declines to adopt a pre-auction spectrum aggregation limit.
• Adds the new 160 megahertz to the FCC's spectrum screen after the auction closes, at which point applicants will be subject to case-by-case review of their long-form applications and secondary market transactions.
• Adopts much of the bidding credit framework from the Lower C-band, including a 15% credit for qualifying small businesses, a 25% credit for qualifying very small businesses, and a 15% rural service provider credit (but not the 35% bidding credit for the smallest revenue tier).
• Rejects requests to implement a rural reserve auction or a Tribal licensing window.

On July 24, 2026, the FCC's Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) released a public notice seeking comment on specific competitive bidding procedures for the Upper C-band auction. Comments on the procedures are due on August 24, 2026, and reply comments are due on September 8, 2026.

Transition of Incumbent FSS Operations

The Order adopts a transition framework for incumbent FSS operations that is designed to be consistent with the Commission's Emerging Technologies precedents and is expressly modeled on the Lower C-band transition framework. The Order also implements several important modifications to address the unique characteristics of the Upper C-band transition, including the need to migrate many incumbent operators out of the C-band entirely, the shorter transition period, and the need to align clearing timelines with the FAA's radio altimeter retrofit timetable. In broad terms, the Commission uses its well-established Emerging Technologies framework to clear incumbent FSS operations from 4.0–4.16 GHz in the contiguous United States, retain post-transition FSS operations in 4.16–4.2 GHz, require new Upper C-band licensees to reimburse eligible transition costs, offer a per-site lump sum election to incumbent earth station operators, and establish separate incentive payments for eligible space station operators.

Incumbent Eligibility

Incumbent space stations. The Order carries forward the definitions of incumbent space station and eligible space station operator from the Lower C-band Order. The Order identifies the remaining incumbent space station operators as Empresa, Eutelsat, Hispasat, SES, and Telesat, and identifies Eutelsat, SES, and Telesat as the remaining "eligible space station operators" for cost reimbursement purposes.

Incumbent earth stations. The Order likewise carries forward the Lower C-band definition of incumbent earth station. Under that definition, qualifying earth stations are those that were operational as of April 19, 2018, continued to be operational, were licensed or registered in the Commission's database by November 7, 2018, and timely certified the accuracy of their information by May 28, 2019.

• The Order expressly rejects requests to recognize previously unregistered earth station facilities, facilities previously found ineligible in the Lower C-band process, or facilities later expanded or relocated after the original freeze.
• The Commission also opts to maintain the current earth station application freeze throughout the Upper C-band transition. As a result, the protected and reimbursable incumbent earth station population will remain a closed universe, as defined during the Lower C-band proceeding.
• The Order uses the most recently released incumbent earth station list from the Lower C-band transition as the baseline going forward. The Commission also empowers the Space Bureau to update the earth station list throughout the transition process, consistent with the approach taken in the Lower C-band transition.

Legal Authority for Transitioning Incumbent FSS Operations

Consistent with the approach in the Lower C-band Order, the Order invokes the Commission's authority under Section 316 of the Communications Act to "modify, as needed, the existing licenses, market access authorizations, and registrations currently held by FSS C-band incumbents to clear 4.0–4.16 GHz." The Order states that Section 316 gives the Commission broad authority to modify licenses when doing so serves the public interest, convenience, and necessity, and that such authority has long been used to change frequencies, rearrange authorizations within a band, and facilitate spectrum repurposing. The Commission relies on Section 316 and related statutory authority to authorize the following modifications:

• Incumbent space stations. All incumbent C-band space station operations will be limited to the 4.16–4.2 GHz band after the transition.
• Receive-only earth stations. The Order relies on the Commission's regulatory authority over interference protection rights for those facilities as part of its broader statutory authority over satellite communications.
• Transmit-receive earth stations. The Order states that, although those entities hold licenses for their transmitting operations, they do not possess licensed spectrum-usage rights in the 4.0–4.2 GHz downlink band.

The Order asserts that incumbent FSS operators will be able to provide "substantially the same" service after the transition, even though some services or links may no longer remain wholly in the C-band. In support of this conclusion, the Order cites the satellite operators' proposed use of measures such as new Ku-band satellites, optimized beam design, cross-strapped Ku-band downlinks with existing C-band uplinks, retrofitted or replacement earth station equipment, and terrestrial recovery networks to mitigate packet loss or other service degradation. The Order also emphasizes that "post-transition services need only be comparable in nature to the pre-transition ones," and need not be "exactly the same." The Order also states that the Commission's recent decision to update satellite spectrum sharing rules in the Ku-band will not diminish the Ku-band's suitability to provide substantially the same service as part of a hybrid transition model.

Transition Schedule

The Order establishes two formal Transition Deadlines:

• Primary Transition Deadline (December 30, 2030). Relocation of all incumbent FSS operations in the top 75 PEAs in the contiguous United States (PEAs 1–41 and 43–76), allowing terrestrial operations to begin on December 31, 2030. The Order asserts this will make Upper C-band available in markets representing approximately 70% of the U.S. population and that it aligns with the FAA's first radio altimeter retrofit deadline.
• Final Transition Deadline (June 30, 2031). Relocation of all incumbent FSS operations in the remaining PEAs in the contiguous United States, allowing terrestrial wireless operations to begin on July 1, 2031, or earlier.

These Transition Deadlines are tied to the incentive payments discussed below. Unlike the Lower C-band transition process, which established an "opt-in" process for accelerated relocation with a later Transition Deadline for FSS operations as a backstop, these Transition Deadlines are mandatory. Under the Order, if an eligible space station operator misses the Final Transition Deadline, it would lose the right to transition cost reimbursement and incentive payments. In addition, any post-deadline transmissions in the 4.0–4.16 GHz band could expose the operator to penalties for unauthorized operations.

Transition Cost Reimbursement

The Order requires new Upper C-band terrestrial wireless licensees to reimburse eligible Upper C-band incumbent operators for the "reasonable and necessary" costs of clearing existing FSS services from 4.0–4.16 GHz in the contiguous United States. The Commission also applies several general reimbursement principles drawn from the Lower C-band transition. Notably, incumbent operators will be responsible for the cost of any incremental upgrades beyond what is necessary to clear the band. If an expense is deemed unreasonable, reimbursement will be limited to the reasonable cost that would have been incurred through a more prudent choice. The Order estimates the total aggregate FSS Upper C-band transition costs at $4-5 billion.

The Order identifies certain types of potentially compensable costs for both repacked Upper C-band services and services that would be migrated to the Ku-band or a hybrid distribution model. Consistent with the Lower C-band approach, the Order directs WTB to develop a Cost Catalog to provide guidance to both eligible FSS incumbents and potential auction bidders about a range of presumptively reasonable transition costs.

The Order also identifies specific categories of non-compensable claims, including reimbursement for speculative lost business opportunities, lost revenues, and ongoing operating expenses. The Order disallows reimbursement for redundancies or additional delivery systems chosen by incumbent earth station operators themselves beyond what is reasonably necessary for the transition.

Lump Sum Option for Incumbent Earth Station Operators

Consistent with the Lower C-band framework, the Order gives incumbent earth station operators the option to receive a lump sum payment in lieu of transition cost reimbursement. Unlike the Lower C-band approach, however, incumbent earth station operators will be permitted to make elections on a per-site basis instead of being required to make a single selection for all of their eligible earth stations. For each site, the lump sum electee will be required to inform the Commission whether it will:

• Perform its own transition work to maintain FSS service.
• Migrate to an alternative distribution technology such as IP-delivered service.
• Discontinue service altogether.

Once made, the election would be irrevocable, and the electing operator would assume responsibility for its own transition work at that site and would have to comply with the applicable Transition Deadline.

The Commission directs WTB to determine the specific lump sum amounts and procedures through the Cost Catalog process via a notice and comment process. The Order states that those amounts should reflect the average estimated reasonable costs of transition, including costs associated with migration to Ku-band related delivery where applicable. The Commission directs WTB to finalize the cost catalog no later than six months after release of the Order. Once the lump sum categories, amounts, and procedures are complete, the Space Bureau will issue a public notice opening a 60-day election window for eligible incumbent earth station operators.

Incentive Payments for Eligible Space Station Operators

In addition to reimbursement of actual transition costs, new Upper C-band licensees will also be required to make incentive payments to eligible space station operators if those operators satisfy the applicable Transition Deadlines. The Order presents this incentive framework as a modified successor to the Lower C-band accelerated relocation payment structure. However, the incentive payments are not aligned with an optional accelerated relocation process as they were in the Lower C-band proceeding. Rather, the Order aligns those payments with the mandatory Transition Deadlines without a separate final transition backstop. Operators that do not meet the Primary Transition Deadline will remain eligible for incrementally reduced payments for up to 180 days, modeled on the approach used in the Lower C-band proceeding. The total incentive pool is $6.3 billion, with $5.607 billion going to SES, $504 million to Eutelsat, and $189 million to Telesat.

Upper C-Band Clearinghouse

Consistent with the Lower C-band transition, the Commission will again use an independent, third-party clearinghouse to administer the financial side of the transition. This clearinghouse will review actual cost and lump sum claims, allocate payment obligations among Upper C-band licensees, distribute approved payments, administer dispute resolution procedures, and issue periodic public reporting on the status of the reimbursement program. The same clearinghouse will administer the adjacent band radio altimeter rebate program. The clearinghouse, and the transition cost reimbursement program more generally, will be overseen by WTB.

The Order establishes a clearinghouse selection process that requires a stakeholder selection committee to convene within 60 days after Federal Register publication, identify a candidate by December 15, 2026, and, if necessary, proceed through a modified fallback process to select a candidate by January 15, 2027. If the fallback process fails, the Commission directs the Office of the Managing Director (OMD) to initiate a procurement process and WTB to take other actions necessary to establish a clearinghouse to oversee the transition.

Relocation Logistics

Consistent with the Lower C-band transition process, the operational work of transition will remain the responsibility of the eligible space station operators, subject to Commission oversight and assisted by a Relocation Coordinator. In practical terms, the satellite operators will remain responsible for planning and executing the migration of affected services and associated earth station work, except where an incumbent earth station operator elects the lump sum option and assumes responsibility for its own sites.

Transition Plans. Each eligible space station operator will be required to file an initial public Transition Plan by November 5, 2026, describing which services will remain repacked in the C-band, which services will migrate, what earth station work will be required, the projected schedule, and the estimated costs. Those plans will then be subject to public input and later amendment procedures established by WTB.

Relocation Coordinator. The Relocation Coordinator will be responsible for coordinating the clearing schedule across operators, helping assign or track migration work where necessary, assessing clearing progress by PEA, and mediating scheduling disputes. The selection committee for the Relocation Coordinator must convene by October 1, 2026. If the committee fails to identify a qualified Relocation Coordinator by January 1, 2027, OMD and WTB would initiate a procurement-based fallback process.

Technical Rules for the Unified C-Band

The Order will largely harmonize the technical rules across the Lower and Upper C-band to create a single 3.7 GHz Service from 3.7–4.14 GHz. The Commission also adopts targeted measures to facilitate coexistence with adjacent band radio altimeters and remaining satellite operations.

Base station power limits. Pursuant to the Order, fixed and base stations in non-rural areas will be authorized to operate at up to 1640 watts/MHz Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP), while rural base stations will be authorized to operate at up to 3280 watts/MHz EIRP, with those limits applying to the aggregate power of all antenna elements in a sector. This approach is consistent with the power limits adopted by the Commission for the Lower C-band and other broadband mobile services in nearby bands.

Mobile and portable power limits. The Commission also adopts a power limit of 2 watts EIRP rather than the 1 watt EIRP power limit that was proposed in the NPRM or the 4 watt EIRP power limit that was included in the Draft Order. To create consistency within the combined band, this higher power limit will be applied across the 3.7–4.14 GHz band.

Out-of-band emissions (OOBE). The Order adopts an option-driven approach to permissible OOBE to ensure effective coexistence with post-retrofit radio altimeters. Under this approach, the Order requires licensees to limit emissions into the adjacent 4.2–4.4 GHz band to either -28.4 dBm/MHz EIRP or a conducted power limit of -46 dBm/MHz. This modified OOBE limit will be applied to operations across the Upper and Lower C-band. Emissions into other bands will remain subject to a -13 dBm/MHz conducted power limit, and mobile and portable devices will remain subject to a -13 dBm/MHz conducted power limit outside their authorized band.

Additional operating limits and other Part 27 rules. The Order also applies a number of Part 27 rules to the Upper C-band, imposes a 450-foot above ground level antenna height limit for operations in 3.98–4.14 GHz, and requires compliance with international coordination agreements at the Canadian and Mexican borders. The Order also requires mobile and portable devices to be operable across the entire 3.7–4.14 GHz band starting on December 31, 2030. Devices that are authorized to operate in the Lower C-band prior to that date may be grandfathered under certain conditions. 

Incumbent FSS and existing telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) protections. The new framework also mirrors much of the Lower C-band's incumbent protection rules, retaining the same FSS protection measures and maintaining existing protection measures for TT&C facilities through December 5, 2030. The Order declines to extend new formal protections to teleport or gateway sites or to adopt formal protections for radio astronomy facilities.

Adjacent-Band Radio Altimeter Coexistence Framework and Retrofit Rebates

The Order establishes a comprehensive coexistence framework for terrestrial wireless operations in the Upper and Lower C-band and radio altimeters operating in the adjacent 4.2–4.4 GHz band and establish a rebate program to help fund altimeter retrofits.

Radio Altimeter Coexistence Framework

Technical rules. The Order identifies three of the rule changes summarized above as specifically supporting radio altimeter coexistence: (1) OOBE limits into the 4.2–4.4 GHz band; (2) antenna height restrictions; and (3) base station power limits. The Order states that these rules "are intended to align with FAA's independent safety-based decisions and promote a harmonious spectral environment between terrestrial wireless operations throughout the entire C-band and adjacent band radio altimeters."

Retrofit timing. The Order also notes that the Primary Transition Deadline is aligned with the FAA's first retrofit deadline and acknowledges that the Lower C-band licensees that previously entered into voluntary commitments on specific technical and deployment issues to facilitate coexistence with radio altimeters have agreed to extend those commitments through the Primary Transition Deadline. The FAA's second retrofit deadline is October 31, 2034, well after the conclusion of the Upper C-band transition.

Radio Altimeter Retrofit Rebates

The Commission declines to adopt an actual cost reimbursement model for radio altimeter retrofits. Instead, it establishes a rebate structure under which WTB will set rebate categories and fixed amounts based on factors including the number of radio altimeters involved, the general level of retrofit effort, and the applicable compliance deadline. The Commission asserts that those rebates would not be issued under the Emerging Technologies framework because radio altimeters: (1) operate in the adjacent band; (2) would not be relocated; and (3) would not have their authorizations modified. Instead, the Order relies on the Commission's broad Title III spectrum management and licensing authority to condition new Upper C-band terrestrial wireless licenses on the payment of these rebates. The Commission estimates the total rebate cost at $3.83-5.71 billion.

Eligibility. For the first FAA retrofit deadline, rebates will be available for aircraft operators holding a U.S. air carrier or operating certificate under 14 CFR Part 119 and aircraft with one or more installed radio altimeters and an original certificate or airworthiness or original export certificate of airworthiness issued before April 1, 2030 that operate in the contiguous United States under 14 CFR Part 121 and are subject to the first FAA retrofit deadline.

For the second FAA retrofit deadline, rebates will be available for aircraft owners listed in the FAA Aircraft Registry and aircraft with one or more installed radio altimeters and an original certificate of airworthiness or original export certificate of airworthiness issued before July 1, 2031, that operate in the contiguous United States under 14 CFR Part 91 (including aircraft operating under parts 125, 133, 135, 136, 137, and 194) and that are subject to the second FAA retrofit deadline.

Scope. The rebate program will be limited to retrofits of radio altimeters already installed in eligible aircraft once the retrofit work is completed. The rebate program will not cover spare inventory, will not extend to foreign-registered aircraft owners or operators, and will not be available to radio altimeter manufacturers as direct recipients.

Administration. The Commission delegates broad authority to WTB to establish the rebate categories, dollar amounts, documentation requirements, and related procedures. The Commission also directs WTB to seek public comment on draft rebate proposals by October 6, 2026.

Next Steps

Prospective bidders and affected stakeholders should consider planning now for the compressed schedule created by the Order and the statutory July 4, 2027, auction deadline. In particular:

• Prospective bidders should assess auction strategy, likely cost reimbursement, incentive payment, and rebate exposure, post-auction spectrum screen implications, and deployment planning with the 2030–2031 clearing schedule in mind.
• Incumbent FSS operators, programmers, broadcasters, cable operators, and other satellite-reliant stakeholders should confirm whether their operations fall within the closed universe of eligible incumbents and closely assess the Transition Plan, Cost Catalog, clearinghouse, and relocation coordinator processes.
• Aviation stakeholders should likewise evaluate fleet-level exposure to the FAA retrofit deadlines of December 30, 2030, and October 31, 2034, and monitor WTB's upcoming actions on rebate categories, amounts, documentation requirements, and related procedures.

All affected parties should consider whether to comment on the Auction Procedures Public Notice prior to the August 24, 2026 comment deadline. Stakeholders should also monitor the subsequent public notices that will establish the practical mechanics of the auction, transition, reimbursement, and rebate processes.

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Paul Powell is of counsel and Heather Moelter is an associate, both located in DWT's Portland office. DWT's communications practice group is monitoring the Upper C-band proceeding and related developments. The group regularly advises wireless, satellite, cable, broadband, and other communications sector clients on FCC proceedings, spectrum policy, licensing, auctions, and technology issues, and is well positioned to help clients assess the regulatory and business implications of the Upper C-band transition. For more information, please contact the authors or another member of our communications team and sign up for our Alerts.