In Case You Missed It: Internet and Innovation Leaders Urge White House to Open 5.9GHz Spectrum

Diverse Groups with Often Competing Interests Join Together to Promote Wi-Fi Access

Today, a broad group of leading innovation companies, public interest and consumer groups sent a letter to President Obama applauding his support for opening up underutilized spectrum and urging him to provide the leadership needed to get the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Transportation to finalize a sharing framework for the 5.9GHz spectrum band. Signatories included many members of WifiForward.

The signatories point out that ever-growing consumer demand for fast, reliable Wi-Fi internet access and products requires additional unlicensed spectrum to sustain efficacy and support continued innovation of Wi-Fi products and services. Wi-Fi is the single most important way American’s reach the Internet. According to Cisco, about 50% of Internet traffic worldwide relies on Wi-Fi (compared to just 3% that relies on mobile networks). This is more than any other technology.

The letter offered three key arguments for sharing the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use:

First, the 5.9 GHz band is uniquely large enough to support wireless innovation and investment, and occupies a low enough frequency range to support widespread consumer operations.

Second, it is immediately adjacent to the existing 5.8 GHz unlicensed band, which already uses Wi-Fi to support millions of consumer devices and automotive functions for drivers today.

Third, the band is essentially unutilized in the vast majority of the country. There is simply no other band with as few existing incumbents to protect. Government operations here are critical, but are far fewer than in other possible bands, and we are committed to protecting them. That means that both Wi-Fi and DSRC can design their wireless operations with sharing built in from the beginning.

Signatories included:

American Library Association; Benton Foundation; Broadcom; Center for Rural Strategies; Common Cause; CoSN — the Consortium for School Networking; Consumer Federation of America; Dell; Devicescape; Engine; Federated Wireless; Free Press; Institute for Local Self-Reliance; Intel; Mimosa Networks; National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA); Next Century Cities; Qualcomm; Open Technology Institute at New America; Public Knowledge; Ruckus Wireless; Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB); and Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA).