Remarks of Commissioner Rosenworcel at "The Road to Gigabit Wi-FI"

We need more unlicensed spectrum. We need more Wi-Fi. We need Gigabit Wi-Fi. The 5.9 GHz band, or more precisely the 5850-5925 MHz band, is an ideal place to explore Wi-Fi expansion. It’s adjacent to an existing band of unlicensed spectrum in 5725-5825 MHz. That means we have the opportunity to introduce new wideband channels to the upper portion of this band—channels that will be able to take advantage of the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi
standard and deliver throughput even faster than 1 gigabit per second. This is how we develop Gigabit Wi-Fi. Here are the three signposts I propose. First, the Federal Communications Commission should immediately refresh the record from its 2013 rulemaking on the 5.9 GHz band.

Time has passed since our early proposal, technology has evolved, and we would benefit from updated input from all stakeholders. Second, the FCC should begin testing unlicensed device prototypes for the 5.9 GHz band in our laboratory—and provide the public with opportunity to comment. Among other things, these tests could include study of the threshold at which a device detects a Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) signal, the amount of time necessary for vacating a channel to avoid interference, and the potential for segmenting the band. Third, we will need to move the results from the laboratory to the field. So we will have to work with our colleagues at the Department of Transportation to take what we have learned with these prototypes and test them with vehicles and in real-world scenarios. I’m an optimist that we can do these three things by the end of 2016.