Opinion

STEVE FORBES, STEPHEN MOORE: America must free its airwaves before China pulls ahead

China has long treated mid-band spectrum as a strategic asset while America's regulatory apparatus has lagged behind

By Steve Forbes , Stephen Moore Fox News

Published July 22, 2026 5:00am EDT

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Washington rarely discovers an economic policy that promotes investment, strengthens national security, improves services for consumers and raises billions of dollars for the Treasury without imposing a new tax. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s newly announced "super band" spectrum auction manages to do all four.

Spectrum may be invisible, but it is among the most valuable resources in the modern economy. It carries phone calls, financial transactions, emergency communications, industrial data, streaming video and the growing volume of information moving between connected devices.

The FCC has moved to auction 160 megahertz of the Upper C-band — the valuable mid-band airwaves that provide the combination of speed, capacity and geographic reach required by modern wireless networks.

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Congress directed the commission to make at least 100 megahertz available. The FCC went further, adding another 60 megahertz and combining it with spectrum cleared in 2020. The result will be a contiguous block of more than 400 megahertz, creating one of the most commercially useful bands of........

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