The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has agreed to offer up some of its valuable spectrum, which will be auctioned off to wireless carriers hungry for more bandwidth.

Specifically, the DOD will move out of the 1775 to 1780 MHz band, making it available to wireless carriers in an upcoming auction. It would also allow for shared access to the 2025 - 2110 MHz band, removing the need to relocate broadcasters.

"The Department believes this alternative proposal constitutes a workable balance to provide access to the 1755-1780 MHz band most desired by the commercial wireless industry while ensuring no loss of critical DOD capabilities and preserving the necessary flexibility to address the long-term status of the 1780-1850 MHz band," DOD's CIO Teresa Takai wrote in a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

As outlined by The Wall Street Journal, the DOD has been hesitant to compromise for fear that handing over access to this spectrum would result in interference and impact military operations.

To address this, DOD said it will "modify selected systems to operate at both 1780- 1850 MHz [and] 2025-2110 MHz. These include Small Unmanned Aerial Systems, Tactical Targeting Network Technology, Tactical Radio Relay, and High Resolution Video systems."

Takai estimated that the move will cost the Defense Department about $3.5 billion, which includes a $272 million implementation cost, $400M for growth of the drone program, and $100 million to compress several other programs.

The letter was revealed when Karl Nebbia, associate administrator for the NTIA Office of Spectrum Management, submitted it to the Federal Communications Commission, which will run the spectrum auction.

Nebbia said NTIA "has only recently received this proposal and is not in a position to endorse it at this time, but is very encouraged by the ongoing commitment of DOD to finding a viable path forward with respect to this valuable spectrum."

The DOD did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.

Carriers are hoping to pair the military airwaves with spectrum in the 2155 to 2180 MHz range, the Journal, said, adding that selling both pieces of spectrum as a package deal would offer carriers complementary channels, and raise the value of the auction.

As it stands, selling to bits of spectrum together could raise as much as $12 billion, according to the Journal. On its own, the lower spectrum may earn about $3.6 billion.

Chloe Albanesius contributed to this report.

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