Why is Microsoft Advocating for Gigabit Fixed Wireless? Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Comments Reveal Interest

Could Microsoft be planning gigabit fixed wireless deployments – perhaps through service provider partners participating in the company’s Airband rural broadband program? Comments filed by the company about Federal Communications Commission plans for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction reveal some interest. Earlier in 2019, the FCC asked for comments on a variety of issues related to the RDOF auction, including a proposal to prevent providers intending to deploy fixed wireless from bidding in the gigabit tier if the providers did not previously report offering gigabit broadband as of Dec 31, 2018. Microsoft was one of several entities that filed comments with the FCC arguing against the proposed restriction. In its comments, the company said this restriction is not in keeping with the FCC’s stated goal of being technologically neutral in the RDOF auction. Microsoft then referenced comments from other opponents of the proposed gigabit fixed wireless restriction.

A Microsoft executive recently suggested that TV white spaces technology might be able to support speeds of 100 Mbps downstream in the future. But this is potentially the first time the company is talking about gigabit fixed wireless speeds, which could require the use of spectrum in higher-frequency millimeter wave spectrum bands and which also would likely need fiber to be brought closer to the end user to backhaul traffic from the fixed wireless access point.