The US has lagged behind China in the race to deploy 5G and its global technology leadership faces further setbacks as regulators—for now—can’t license spectrum to wireless providers, policy analysts say.
Lawmakers are sitting on demands to restore the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to sell bits of electromagnetic spectrum—the crucial invisible radio airwaves that transmit phone calls, video streaming, and all other wireless communications. Congress let the FCC’s spectrum auction powers expire in March—the first-ever lapse since the agency started running auctions 30 years ago.
“This is unprecedented,” Joshua Levine, a technology and innovation policy analyst at the think tank ...