This World Wi-Fi Day, let's celebrate the progress we've made

[Commentary] June 20 is World Wi-Fi Day!

The Federal Communications Commission, where I have the pleasure of serving, generally has done a good job of providing an environment for Wi-Fi to flourish in the US. But more needs to be done to promote future opportunities. This includes making more spectrum bands available for unlicensed use to allow super-wide Wi-Fi channels and making a firm commitment to opening up the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use, assuming sharing with automotive safety systems is proven possible. We also need to explore whether, and to what degree, Wi-Fi can play a factor in connecting those in the hardest to reach parts of the US without Internet service. Maybe Wi-Fi is a good technology to stretch existing networks beyond their edges to more rural portions of our nation.