For Immediate Release 

November 11, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

In case you missed it – Industry expert Dean Bubley, founder of Disruptive Analysis, recently published an op-ed in Light Reading examining the future of the 4.4-4.94 GHz (“4 GHz”) band. As policymakers study the band’s potential for commercial use, Bubley argues spectrum sharing should be given careful consideration to expand commercial access while protecting federal operations.

Bubley examines a Valo Analytica report focused on sharing as a commercial solution for the band and contrasts it with CTIA’s recommendations to clear and auction the same spectrum. He notes that Valo outlines ways commercial wireless services could coexist with federal systems, drawing on established sharing approaches such as Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) dynamic protection areas and 6 GHz automated frequency coordination. He sees these examples as starting points for a comprehensive 4 GHz sharing framework. By contrast, he notes that CTIA’s plan for high-powered exclusive use of the 4.4 GHz band gives little attention to the disruption, costs, and uncertainty involved.

“Policymakers’ overall objective should be to maximize useful access, economic returns, and future US industrial productivity and competitiveness, while maintaining critical operations,” Bubley writes. “Decisionmakers should prioritize putting the spectrum to the best uses for the most people and greatest overall impact. That requires evaluating the full range of options, with sharing treated as a serious and mainstream commercial model, rather than an inconvenient fallback.”

Read an excerpt from the op-ed below.

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4GHz Is The Next Battleground For Spectrum-Sharing

Light Reading

November 10, 2026

Recently, US policymakers have increasingly focused on the 4.4-4.94GHz (“4GHz”) band as the next battleground for US spectrum policy. Currently used for numerous defense and other federal applications, the Working Families Tax Cut Act (WFTCA, formerly known as OBBBA) and the December 2025 presidential memorandum on “Winning the 6G Race” both explicitly identified the band as a candidate for possible commercial use.

As NTIA begins studying the band, multiple stakeholders have started to publish research supporting their views on how the 4GHz band should be best exploited for commercial value, end-user utility and possible Treasury returns – while maintaining critical federal missions and operational readiness.

Key documents include:

• ATIS NextG Alliance report on 6G Spectrum Recommendations
• Valo Analytica report on “Sharing the 4.4GHz Band: Extending American Leadership in Spectrum Access,” commissioned by Spectrum for the Future
• CTIA Report on “Optimizing the 4GHz Band for America’s Economic and National Security”

This article considers whether policymakers should set aside the default assumption of auctions for national, high-power exclusive licenses and instead also consider an alternative approach centered on spectrum-sharing, localized networks – a framework that could deliver wireless capacity where it is genuinely needed, rapidly and with minimal disruption and maximum optionality.

Check out the full article here.