President Biden recently released an executive order that among other items encourages the Federal Communications Commission to “Restore Net Neutrality rules undone by the prior administration.” This would not only be a mistake in terms of closing the digital divide, another stated goal of the administration, but would push the FCC away from important work that actually could close the digital divide — freeing up wireless spectrum.
The current bipartisan infrastructure proposal in the Senate sets aside $65 billion for broadband infrastructure. The funding mechanism for this infrastructure is using the auction proceeds from spectrum used for 5G.
Spectrum is key to closing the digital divide both as a potential funding source for a broadband buildout as well for wireless connectivity. Yet even with spectrum’s importance the FCC has moved backwards on opening up spectrum during the Biden administration, as seen with the 4.9 GHz and 5.9 GHz bands.
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