Ted Cruz thinks China is trying to sabotage US spectrum efforts

The post Ted Cruz thinks China is trying to sabotage US spectrum efforts appeared first on Android Headlines.

Mar 26, 2025 - 16:15

The US and China are currently in a trade war. Both countries aren’t particularly friendly with each other at the moment. But could China be working behind the scenes to thwart the United States’ spectrum efforts? US Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz thinks so.

Is China secretly sabotaging the US?

A report from Reuters cites a letter Cruz sent to Tulsi Gabbard, the US Director of National Intelligence. Cruz suggests to Gabbard that China is trying to thwart the US’s spectrum efforts by covertly influencing lawmakers to delay or prevent the renewal of spectrum auctioning.

Cruz says, “China is actively working to capture global leadership in this area and ensure the next generation of global telecommunications technologies live and work on a technological backbone of their making.”

This follows the FCC’s current situation, where it has lost its ability to auction wireless spectrum. This happened in 2023 when Congress failed to pass legislation that would renew its ability in time. Lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill called the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act, but the Senate stalled it over budget debates and other disagreements.

Cruz’s letter also expressed his concern that this delay could lead to Huawei building the backbone of “tomorrow’s global communication networks.” The US government doesn’t want China or its companies to control the telecom infrastructure, citing national security concerns. The US government is even spending billions on removing Huawei and ZTE’s equipment from local networks.

Why this matters

The Chinese Embassy has not responded to the report, but it’s not hard to see why Cruz is worried. Wireless spectrum auctions take place around the world. Each country has its own regulatory body to handle these auctions. These spectrums are crucial in the advancement of wireless technology, such as 5G and, eventually, 6G.

Since the FCC is unable to auction off wireless spectrum, advancements are stalled. Mobile carriers and other companies will have to work with what’s available. This means that while other countries, such as China, actively auction off spectrums and advance their technologies, the US can only sit on the sidelines and wait until Congress reauthorizes the FCC to resume wireless spectrum auctions.

This could lead to the US lagging behind other countries and a potential loss of revenue and competitiveness.

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