The Big Picture |
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The White House on December 19, 2025 ordered immediate studies to clear federal users from the 7.125–7.4 GHz radio band so it can be reallocated for commercial 6G use, and to consider moving those federal users into 7.4–8.4 GHz. The assistant secretary of commerce must deliver a written report with cost estimates and timelines within 12 months (by December 19, 2026) and begin formal reallocation steps; the Secretary of State is also asked to press U.S. positions at the International Telecommunication Union’s World Radiocommunication Conference-27. The memo requires the studies to demonstrate the moves “will not materially impair” national security missions or electric‑grid operations as identified by the Secretary of War and the Director of National Intelligence, notes that implementation depends on law and funding, and clarifies it does not create private legal rights. The change matters because it starts a concrete, time‑bound process to shift spectrum from federal use to commercial wireless providers, while flagging possible conflicts with defense, grid, satellite telemetry, and radio‑astronomy operations.
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Separately, the Administration removed a specific Head Start rule that required each local program to keep a separate, evidence‑based COVID‑19 mitigation plan made with its local health advisory committee. That Federal Register rule rescission would take effect February 17, 2026 unless there are major objections by January 20, 2026, and the agency estimates it reduces paperwork costs by about $17,312 per year. Programs still must follow general health and sickness rules and local public‑health guidance, but they will have more flexibility and less federally prescriptive paperwork. This is a small but concrete step in rolling back pandemic‑era, program‑level mandates and signals a broader preference for less detailed federal rules in favor of local discretion — with potential variation in practices across sites and uncertainty about health outcomes.
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Pattern to Watch |
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Together these moves point to an emerging pattern: the federal government is accelerating steps that favor rapid commercial deployment of advanced technologies while trimming pandemic‑era prescriptive requirements for social programs. Indicators of this pattern are the December 19, 2025 presidential memorandum that sets a 12‑month reporting deadline and directs formal reallocation action for key spectrum bands (including studies of 2.69–2.9 GHz and 4.4–4.94 GHz), and the Federal Register notice that removes a program‑specific COVID plan requirement with a clear effective date of February 17, 2026 (comment deadline January 20, 2026). If this trend continues, expect more agency memoranda and FCC rulemakings to repurpose federal spectrum, budget requests to cover relocation costs, and additional deregulatory steps that eliminate program‑specific pandemic rules; signs of escalation would include formal FCC proceedings to reassign bands, published cost estimates for moving federal users, treaty positions filed for WRC‑27, or further rescissions of COVID‑specific obligations in other federal programs.
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