FCC Opens 50 MHz of Cellular Spectrum to Drones

The US Federal Communications Commission has voted to let drones use 50 megahertz of the 800 MHz cellular band, removing a 1991 restriction that had kept them off one of the oldest mobile phone bands in the country.

The Commission adopted the change as a Report and Order (FCC 26-72) at its open meeting on 29 October, according to an FCC news release. Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioners Anna Gomez and Olivia Trusty all approved it. The agency announced the result on X with the word “PASSED”.

“Today, we give drone operators a new source of spectrum and open up new business models for aerial connectivity,” Carr said in the FCC’s post.

Two things stay the same. Airline passengers still cannot use mobile phones on cellular networks while a plane is in the air: the FCC’s draft order said that ban stays in place. And the order is about radio spectrum, not flying. The draft states that it “does not affect the Federal Aviation Administration rules” on portable electronic devices, and drone operators still need the FAA’s permission to fly.

What the FCC changed

The 800 MHz cellular service covers 824-849 MHz and 869-894 MHz. The FCC adopted licensing rules for it in 1981 and, in 1991, banned “airborne” use to limit the risk of interference to ground networks from phones on planes. That ban was written with handsets in mind, but it also caught drones. The release says the restriction “unintentionally prevented drones from operating” in the band.

The adopted order opens the 50 megahertz for drone “command, control, communication, and payload operations”, the FCC says. In plain terms, a drone can now use a licensed cellular network in this band both to be flown and to send back what it gathers, such as video or sensor data.

The FCC’s reasoning is that the old rule is no longer needed for drones “because modern wireless networks employ advanced technologies to prevent UAS from causing interference to those networks”. Its public draft, released on 8 October, went into more detail. It pointed to industry standards work at 3GPP, starting with Release 15, which tackled the main problem a drone poses: from altitude, it can see many base stations at once. The draft also listed support from AT&T, Verizon, the industry group CTIA, Qualcomm and Ericsson.

According to the draft, the order rewrites section 22.925 of the FCC’s rules and adds a primary mobile allocation for drones to the US Table of Frequency Allocations. It would take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. The final text had not been posted on the FCC’s document site by the afternoon of 29 October, so those details rest on the draft.

The FCC frames the move as part of a wider drone push that includes freeing up spectrum, experimental licences, support for counter-drone tools and action against foreign-made drones.

Why low-band spectrum matters for drones beyond line of sight

This is TSN’s analysis. For most commercial drone work, the radio link is as important as the aircraft. A drone flying a delivery route or inspecting a power line out of sight of its pilot needs a reliable connection over long distances, and the obvious candidate is the cellular network that already covers most of the country. Low-band spectrum such as 800 MHz travels further and penetrates obstacles better than higher bands, which is why AT&T and Verizon argued it suits drones in rural and suburban areas. Lifting the ban lets carriers sell that coverage to drone operators in a band that was off limits purely because of a rule written for phones in aeroplanes.

The spectrum fix arrives ahead of the bigger rule. Routine flights beyond the pilot’s line of sight still depend on the FAA. The drone news site DroneXL reports that the FAA’s long-awaited Part 108 rule for such flights is due by 7 December and has not yet been published. Until it is, operators such as Wing, which has rolled out Walmart drone delivery across Charlotte, will keep relying on case-by-case approvals. More spectrum makes scaling easier, but it does not grant permission to fly.

There is also local politics to come. In Massachusetts, 16 state lawmakers have asked the governor to pause drone delivery permits, a reminder that wider connectivity will not settle questions about noise, privacy and where drones should fly.

The change will matter beyond delivery. Inspection firms such as Percepto, whose Axion platform analyses drone data, depend on getting large volumes of imagery off the aircraft quickly. Overseas, KDDI and Wing are planning drone deliveries in Japan from 2027, showing how mobile operators see drones as new customers for their networks.

What comes next is the publication of the final order and the Carr and Trusty statements, then the Federal Register notice that starts the 30-day clock in the draft. The FAA’s Part 108 rule is the other date to watch.