In order to pay for the bill's tax cut and "FirstNet" national wireless network for first responders, Congress sought to raise revenue from FCC wireless spectrum auctions. Among other things, the Senate bill included a requirement that satellite licensees in certain frequency bands who wished to transition their wireless spectrum to terrestrial, cellular networks first would have to put up the licenses for public auction. DISH Network had bought billions of dollars worth of satellite licenses in hopes of transitioning those obsolete satellite frequencies into a modern, nationwide terrestrial wireless network. DISH's would-be competitors, like AT&T and Verizon, gladly would have paid a lot at auction to acquire the satellite licenses and prevent a new competitor from entering the wireless market.

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