Stephen Cunningham

Large tech companies including Apple and Facebook contend the airwaves in the 6 gigahertz range should be open for use by the next generation of lightning-fast wireless networks. Utilities say the new networks threaten to create interference that could make it harder to keep the lights on. "Opening the 6 GHz band to unlicensed users could cause interference with our signals and could jeopardize the reliability of our communications network,' said Mike Twomey, a senior vice president for federal policy and government affairs for Entergy in New Orleans.