June 2016

The technologies available today offer consumers a safer experience than Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) without a mandate placed on the auto industry. In addition, auto companies argue that sharing the 5.9 GHz spectrum, which they aren’t currently using, would place consumers in danger due to the risk of interference. Yet the only way to know whether spectrum sharing would cause meaningful inference with DSRC is to conduct testing, something the auto industry has refused to do for years. The bottom line is that the car companies are squatting on spectrum that they aren’t using and refuse to share. The Federal Communications Commission should adopt a “framework order” setting basic rules for sharing and refining them with later testing. This would open up spectrum that we all need to continue innovating.

[Commentary] Very early on in my medical career, I saw that children and their mothers got sick primarily because of the conditions under which they were living. I became convinced that if you want to do good for people in our world, you’ve got to focus on their social and economic development, as well as focusing on their health problems. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) bring together the needs of the people and the planet, the needs for sustainable economic growth, and the need for peace and partnership as the necessary elements for the future of our world. The new development agenda is universal, indivisible, must leave no one behind, and must address the digital divide, otherwise we won’t succeed. We don’t have a plan B for the future.

[Dr David Nabarro serves as Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Climate Change.]