In addition to refilling the US’ spectrum pipeline after more than two years of no new auctions by the FCC, the Act offers incentives to boost fibre and AI investment
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act has been signed into law
On 4 July 2025, Donald Trump (President, US) signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the Act), which includes a number of tech and telecoms related provisions, including the reauthorisation of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) spectrum auction authority. The Act also includes tax incentives for investment in fibre networks and computing infrastructure, as well as expanded powers for the bodies responsible for reviewing telecoms projects for national security concerns. Though the Act has been finalised and signed into law, much of the work to interpret and implement its broad provisions will now fall to a range of executive agencies and regulators, including the FCC, the Department of Commerce, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is responsible for tax policy.
The FCC must oversee the reallocation and auctioning of at least 800MHz of spectrum by 2034
The most important telecoms provisions within the Act come in the form of a reauthorisation of the FCC’s spectrum auctioning powers, which lapsed in March 2023 and halted progress in reassigning and allocating additional spectrum for more than two years. Now authorised to again conduct auctions through to 2034, the FCC is instructed in the Act to auction at least 800MHz of spectrum by the end of that year. That instruction includes a specific order to auction at least 100MHz of C-band spectrum (between 3.98-4.2GHz) within two years, or by July 2027. Additionally and with the guidance of recommendations from the NTIA, the FCC must auction at least 200MHz of spectrum currently allocated for use by the federal government between the 1.3-10.5GHz frequencies before 2029 and another 300MHz of spectrum in that range before 2033. To reach 800MHz in total, the NTIA is required to identify and, in turn, the FCC is required to auction an additional 200MHz of spectrum from almost any frequency band that may be currently allocated for public or commercial use, again by 2034. The Act specifically prohibits the NTIA and FCC from repurposing spectrum in the lower 3GHz (3.1-3.45GHz) band as well as in the 7-8GHz band (7.125-8.4GHz), both of which are currently allocated for federal use and employed for national security and defence purposes. Additionally, the Act allows for the President to modify or withdraw any frequency proposed for reallocation up to 60 days before an auction is scheduled to begin if a change is deemed necessary for protecting US national security. Brendan Carr (Chairman, FCC) congratulated President Trump and lawmakers on the passage of the Act, stating its spectrum provisions will “create jobs, encourage innovation, and expand high-speed connections to more Americans”.
Tax incentives for investment into fibre and data centres have already encouraged AT&T to speed up its network rollout
The Act also includes a number of incentives for investment in advanced telecoms networks, specifically fibre, and AI infrastructure such as data centres. Operators will be afforded preferential tax treatment for any broadband-related capital expenditure and gain access to tax credits aimed at incentivising fibre deployments to rural communities. In the days leading up to the final passage of the Act, AT&T announced its plans to accelerate the rollout of its fibre network in response to these favourable tax provisions, pledging to reach an additional 1m consumer premises annually beginning in 2026. The Act also introduces preferential tax treatment for investments into data centres and server farms alongside credits for clean energy integration into computing infrastructure. Unlike an earlier version of the bill, the Act notably did not include a proposal to ban state-level regulation of AI for a period of 10 years. After significant bipartisan pushback from state-level policymakers and administrative concerns with the structure of the provision, Congress dropped its controversial plan to limit new regulation and roll back any existing regulation of AI. While the Trump Administration has continued its push to drive investment in domestic AI industries through the Act, it remains unclear if and when federal lawmakers will look to introduce legislation to oversee the technology, even as states continue to pass new and differing pieces of AI regulation.
