June 4, 2026
Mr. Latta (for himself and Mr. Carter of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, to develop a plan for how the United States will advance and advocate for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed technologies, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Advancing American Wi-Fi Against Foreign Adversaries Act
.
Sec. 2. Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that—
(1)
the leadership of the United States with respect to Wi-Fi, 6G, and satellite technologies is a national priority;
(2)
the United States is the birthplace of Wi-Fi technology and home to the world’s leading developers, manufacturers, and innovators with respect to unlicensed spectrum;
(3)
Wi-Fi contributes more than $1,000,000,000,000 annually to the economy of the United States, and is estimated to contribute $2,400,000,000,000 in 2027, which helps to enable commercial activity, the provision of education and health care, and the maintenance of public safety;
(4)
maintaining and advocating for a global system that supports Wi-Fi technology is essential to continuing the leadership of the United States in advanced technologies and building networks of trusted telecommunications infrastructure;
(5)
strategic and unified engagement at, and leading up to, the World Radiocommunication Conferences of the International Telecommunication Union is critical to—
(A)
advance the spectrum priorities of the United States; and
(B)
counter actions from adversaries that seek to upend the leadership of the United States;
(6)
adversaries, such as the People’s Republic of China, have pushed for spectrum policies at World Radiocommunication Conferences and in other fora that seek to reverse the global momentum made with respect to Wi-Fi technology, with the aim of forcing reliance on untrusted, foreign-controlled infrastructure;
(7)
because the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027 will be held in Shanghai, China, coordination between key Federal agencies is essential to creating a unified strategy and building a coalition of countries allied on spectrum priorities and countering adverse action by the People’s Republic of China; and
(8)
it is critical for the success of the United States at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027 to—
(A)
achieve timely decisions on national technology and spectrum priorities;
(B)
appoint a head of delegation as swiftly as possible to support the positions of the United States; and
(C)
actively engage allies and potential allies to build support for the stated spectrum priorities of the United States.
Sec. 3. Plan for advancement of unlicensed technologies
(a) Definitions
In this section:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees
The term appropriate congressional committees means—
(A)
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate;
(B)
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
(C)
the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives; and
(D)
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives.
(2) Assistant Secretary
The term Assistant Secretary means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information.
(3) Commission
The term Commission means the Federal Communications Commission.
(4) Plan
The term Plan means the plan described in subsection (b).
(5) Unlicensed
The term unlicensed means, with respect to technology, that the technology may be operated without an individual license, as provided in part 15 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulations.
(6) Wi-Fi technology
The term Wi-Fi technology—
(A)
means wireless local area networking technology that is—
(i)
commonly known as Wi-Fi
; and
(ii)
based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers standards 802.11, or any successor standards; and
(B)
includes the spectrum access and regulatory frameworks that enable the technology described in subparagraph (A).
(7) WRC–27
The term WRC–27 means the International Telecommunication Union World Radiocommunication Conference scheduled to take place in Shanghai, China, from October 11 to November 12, 2027.
(b) Plan
(1) In general
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Assistant Secretary, in coordination with the Commission, the Secretary of State, the United States Trade Representative, the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, and the heads of other relevant Federal agencies, shall develop, submit to the appropriate congressional committees, and make publicly available on the website of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration a plan describing how the United States will advance, and advocate for, the global adoption of Wi-Fi technologies, unlicensed technologies, and spectrum allocations for unlicensed technologies, including at WRC–27, through, among other actions, promoting global harmonization of the band of electromagnetic spectrum from 5925 megahertz to 7125 megahertz for the use of Wi-Fi technologies and unlicensed technologies.
(2) Public input
The Assistant Secretary shall—
(A)
seek public comment in developing the Plan; and
(B)
consider comments received pursuant to subparagraph (A) when finalizing the Plan.
(3) Required contents
The Plan shall include an assessment of, and strategies to counter, efforts by the Chinese Communist Party, representatives of the government of the People’s Republic of China, and representatives of other governments that are adversaries of the United States to undermine unlicensed technologies and Wi-Fi technologies.
(c) Report on implementation
Not later than 90 days after the date on which WRC–27 concludes, the Assistant Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report describing the implementation of the Plan, which shall—
(1)
to the extent possible, include a mechanism to track the progress of the implementation of the Plan; and
(2)
be submitted in an unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
(d) Rule of construction
Nothing in this section may be construed to require the disclosure of classified information, information that is subject to privilege, or proprietary or trade secret information.