Commissioner Rosenworcel Remarks at Silicon Flatirons

Today, in the spirit of learning from the past and building a brighter future, I want to focus on two specific bands where I believe we can do better—the 5.9 and 2.5 GHz bands. I want to walk you through their history and then—no shame—provide some ideas about what we can do right now to ensure these airwaves become the stuff of spectrum success.

Idea #1: Let’s Rethink the 5.9 GHz Band. It’s time to take a fresh look at this band and see if we can update our commitment to safety and also develop more unlicensed opportunities for Wi-Fi. This is a subject I’ve worked on with my colleague Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. I’s the ideal place to explore Wi-Fi expansion because it’s adjacent to an existing unlicensed band. That means we have the opportunity to introduce new wideband channels—channels that will be able to take advantage of new standards and deliver speeds even faster than 1 gigabit per second. In other words, this is where we can develop next generation Gigabit Wi-Fi. 

Idea #2: Let’s Rethink the 2.5 GHz Band. The FCC has unused 2.5 GHz licenses in inventory. It also has the authority to hold another voluntary spectrum incentive auction. Doing so would require addressing license size, long-term leasing, and other issues unique to the band. But if we were to combine these sources of 2.5 GHz spectrum, we would be able to hold a substantial nationwide auction for new, flexible commercial use of key mid-band airwaves important to 5G service. Then the funds in excess of those required to run the auction and pay for spectrum contributions from existing licensees could be turned into a Homework Gap initiative. This initiative could help fund the connectivity needs of 12 million students who lack broadband at home—through library loans of Wi-Fi hotspots and other creative ideas that help ensure no child is left offline.