The United States adopted the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) on July 4, 2025, which made several sweeping federal policy changes. One of those changes restored the ability of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to auction spectrum for exclusive commercial licensed use over the next decade. The FCC, which regulates communications and spectrum in the U.S., had its auction authority lapse in 2023.
One section of the OBBBA was particularly positive for the vehicle connectivity space.
An Update on Spectrum Auctions
While the FCC can once again auction spectrum, there is a key exclusion that directly affects Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology. Specifically, the OBBBA prohibits auction of the frequencies between 7.4 gigahertz and 8.4 gigahertz through September of 2034.
The CCC Digital Key™ specification utilizes IEEE UWB channel 9 (7.7 – 8.3 GHz). Because digital key UWB receivers are susceptible to interference from higher power wideband communication transmitters near a UWB receiver—such as IMT—high-power applications in this spectrum would essentially erase the growing consumer market.
Continued Innovation for UWB
The OBBBA has wide-ranging, positive impact on vehicle connectivity. We’ve long been in strong support of the expansion and improvement of spectrum sharing capabilities. The ever-demanding bandwidth crunch has made it essential for policymakers to prioritize frameworks, incentives, and technologies for more intensive and efficient spectrum sharing.
At the same time, balancing these innovations with current methodologies and frameworks that already work well today is equally critical. UWB is a great example of this—getting to a point where widespread adoption is feasible has taken coordinated industry efforts and significant time and investment, and to lose or limit its functionality would be a large blow for automakers, device manufacturers, and other technology companies.
The good news: With channel 9 remaining protected from spectrum auctions for at least a decade, vehicle applications can continue to innovate using UWB technology.
For the CCC and our members, this means we can keep advancing in areas such as phone-as-a-key for secure vehicle access. Channel 9 is the only channel that can be used globally that allows for collaboration and harmonization among all regions to enhance vehicle connectivity. Protecting this frequency allocation also allows manufacturers to make devices and products at greater scale at lower costs. This not only has positive effects on the supply chain, but it also enables consumers to connect and use devices and vehicles no matter where they are. This leads to better user experiences, from ease of use to stronger security measures.
We look forward to seeing more innovation that implements UWB from our members and the industry at large, particularly around CCC Digital Key™ certification and use cases.
Check out our full position on UWB spectrum regulations here. Do you want to get involved with CCC’s regulatory advocacy efforts to improve vehicle connectivity around the globe? Learn more and join the Spectrum Regulatory Working Group.
