WISPA says it’s not clear why broadband infrastructure funding rules deem fixed wireless unreliable

The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) has been wrestling with a ruling from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) which will effectively allow billions in federal funding to go toward wireline overbuilds of areas already covered by fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband. WISPA CEO David Zumwalt said it’s been unable to get a straight answer from the NTIA about why it decided FWA services based on unlicensed spectrum don’t count as reliable broadband. Zumwalt’s questions specifically relate to the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, because the NTIA unveiled rules for the program which specify areas served exclusively by fixed wireless services based on unlicensed spectrum will be considered “unserved.” According to Zumwalt, the decision affects a “pretty large subset” of wireless broadband providers. That’s in part because unlicensed spectrum offers service providers more deployment flexibility than licensed spectrum. The response WISPA got from the NTIA was that the issue doesn’t have to do with the fundamental reliability of FWA systems, but about the future availability of unlicensed spectrum. However, when that information was brought to the Federal Communications Commission, which has regulatory responsibility for spectrum in the country, the FCC indicated it didn’t have any concerns about the availability of unlicensed spectrum.