WISPA: Path to Gigabit Plan Could Reduce Rural Broadband Subsidies

If at least 200 MHz of point-to-point mid-band spectrum were made available for fixed wireless, the US could reduce the need to subsidize rural broadband deployments, said Claude Aiken, president and CEO of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA). The recommendation was part of what WISPA is calling a Path to Gigabit plan, which Aiken referred to as a “holistic” approach to making broadband available throughout the US. “Spectrum is a key aspect of our proposal,” said Aiken.  Specific mid-band spectrum bands that could be made available to wireless ISPs include the upper C-band or a portion of the band between 3.1 and 3.5 GHz, he said.