Even as Microsoft is trying to convince the FCC to expand the broadcast band channels it wants to use for broadband, it has announced an expansion of its Airband initiative, which has been targeted to closing the rural digital divide to eight of the largest U.S. cities.

The computer giant said they are among those facing the largest digital divides for Black, African American, Latinx, and Hispanic communities, essentially tying the Airband initiative to closing the racial inequity divide as part of its Racial Equity Initiative.

The cities are Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland, El Paso, Los Angeles, Memphis, Milwaukee, and New York.

For example, Microsoft is working with Starry Inc. in Los Angeles to provide "affordable broadband" to four affordable housing communities.

It is providing free and low-cost refurbished devices to racial and ethnic minorities in all those cities.

And if the link to its FCC efforts were not clear, Microsoft tied the announcement to what it said is updated research showing that 120 million-plus people still don't use the internet at "broadband speeds,"* almost 10 times the 14.5 million figure the FCC said don't have access to broadband.

The company is also pushing for better broadband mapping for the billions in subsidy funds already allocated by Congress and as much as $100 billion more in President Biden's American Jobs Plan package, as well as a technology neutral approach that could include subsidizing fiber, satellite and a number of fixed wireless approaches. It also wants any of those to have to meet an updated high-speed definition from the FCC.  It also suggests that preference be given to wireless solutions--like Airband. "History has taught us that technologies are deployed at different speeds, with wireless technologies like mobile phones seeing faster deployment than wireline technologies," said Vickie Robinson, GM of the Airband initiative.

Microsoft said these city pilot programs won't solve the problem by themselves. "We need systemic change to solve a systemic problem and that requires the federal and state governments to act to permanently address the digital divide," Robinson said in a blog post Tuesday (June 2). "That’s why we’re using our voice and resources to push for policy change and funding at the federal, state and local levels. Only by working with stakeholders at all levels –  federal, state and local agencies; corporate, philanthropic and nonprofit partners; and community leaders –  will we be able to close the digital divide.

Microsoft's Airband initiative launched in 2017, but broadcasters pushing back against the computer company's efforts to expand service closer to the channels broadcasters use call it failed science fair project.

*The FCC's high-speed definition of 25 Mbps download, 3 Mbps upload.

National Association of Broadcasters deputy general counsel Patrick McFadden has fired back at computer giant Microsoft after the latter petitioned the FCC to change a ruling allowing broadcasters to expand the reach of their new ATSC 3.0 Next Gen TV transmission standard. 

In a blog post Tuesday (May 25), McFadden took aim at Microsoft's Airband initiative, the tech company’s effort to use the unlicensed so-called white spaces between TV channels. Microsoft argued that allowing broadcasters to expand their reach via distributed transmission systems (DTS) would hurt Airband by reducing the available broadcast spectrum for unlicensed use.

Also Read: NAB Tells FCC No More Handouts for Failing Experiment 

In its running battle with Microsoft over use of the airwaves, NAB has already argued that using white spaces for broadband is already something of a history of a campaign that failed and McFadden tried to put an exclamation point on that argument after Microsoft's petition. 

He pointed out that Microsoft has already been urging the FCC to change the white spaces rules to allow for use of channels closer to those of TV stations, which NAB argues will increase potential interference. "Even more remarkably," he wrote, "they are also seeking to overturn rules the Commission recently adopted to further the deployment of Next Generation TV services and improve service to television viewers, effectively constraining broadcasters from offering services broadcasters are actually currently deploying [in order] to protect Microsoft’s ability to offer theoretical services. (At some point. Maybe.)" 

Also Read: Tech Groups Say Signal Spill-Over Should Be Deemed Unlicensed 

The number of FCC filings from Microsoft and its allies will soon top the number of functioning white spaces devices (about 800, NAB said), McFadden quipped, then added: "At some point, preferably before we dedicate more regulatory time and energy to this particular science fair project (and let’s not forget that companies like Microsoft pay zero regulatory fees to the FCC), it would be nice to see something — anything really — come of the Commission’s previous efforts."

The FCC has voted to approve a rulemaking opening up more TV white spaces spectrum between channels in the TV band and for higher powered wireless broadband devices, saying it is doing so while still protecting those TV station signals from potential interference.

The item, which was approved unanimously, is based on a petition by Microsoft for more spectrum and an agreement between the computer company and the National Association of Broadcasters on how to do that while protecting incumbent broadcasters.

Related: FCC to Vote on White Spaces Rural Broadband Item

The FCC also approved a further notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) asking how to determine if/where more TV channel spectrum white spaces can be freed up for wireless broadband.

Broadcasters scored a victory in the debate with Microsoft over how the FCC should allow for more unlicensed broadband in the so-called white spaces between TV channels. The FCC had signaled it wanted to allow more flexible use of the TV band by broadband providers, pushed by Microsoft--which petitioned for the changes Airband initiative to use white spaces spectrum to extend rural broadband access. Advancing rural broadband is an avowed priority for FCC chairman Ajit Pai.

Related: Microsoft Says Airband is On Track

Given that the FCC was likely to have the votes to expand unlicensed use, the National Association of Broadcasters worked with Microsoft on the compromise, but allowing higher-powered unlicensed device use on channels adjacent to TV channels, had been the sticking point. NAB opposed it while Microsoft backed that use.

The FCC eventually decided not to allow that higher powered use "at this time." It also said it would not change the methodology it used to protect authorized services--licensed TV broadcasters--from unlicensed signal interference, though the FNPRM asks whether and how it might do that in the future. 

Pai said the FCC had to use every tool in the toolkit to expand wireless broadband, including TV white spaces, which it first opened up in 2008. He said that by "threading the needle"--the item, among other things, creates new classes of devices that can operate at higher powers, without hurting the primary users of the band--TV stations. "Not bad for a day's work...after a dozen years," he joked. 

“NAB thanks the FCC for approving an order that would provide greater flexibility for white spaces operations without undermining the fundamental principle that these operations must not cause interference to licensed services, such as radio and TV stations," said NAB EVP Ann Marie Cumming. "We commend the Commission staff for their hard work on this item and their commitment to a consensus-based approach.”

“Today’s vote by the FCC is a victory for those across the country whose lives have been made more difficult from lack of access to a reliable internet connection," said the Consumer Technology Association, a longtime supporter of opening up more white spaces. "Leveraging TV White Spaces for broadband use is an innovative solution that will help families across the United States live better lives—from better access to remote work and education to life saving digital health services and more."

"WISPA commends the FCC’s action today to promote more efficient use of spectrum in TV White Spaces," said the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association. "This action will help wireless consumers see more innovation and competition, while also decreasing the digital divide by making spectrum “infrastructure” more useful and plentiful.

"With the TV White Space Order, the FCC increased the maximum radiated power from 10 to 16 watts EIRP and boosted height above average terrain from 250 meters to 500 meters.  These changes will expand TVWS service use, helping the ecosystem create more solutions for the band which will greatly improve the band’s commercial development and deployment." 

“We applaud Chairman Ajit Pai and the members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for taking this important step to clear regulatory barriers to innovation to help bridge the digital divide,” said Connect Americans Now executive director Richard Cullen. CAN is a big proponent of the white spaces expansion. “We commend the FCC for demonstrating a bipartisan commitment to maximizing spectrum resources to expand broadband connectivity, a critical need for millions of Americans made more urgent by the pandemic.”

Marking the halfway point in its Airband rural broadband initiative, Microsoft said it is now in 25 states and one territory and is on track to meet its goal of three million more rural Americans with broadband access. 

Airband is Microsoft's promotion of unlicensed wireless in the TV white spaces to extend broadband access. 

Related: Microsoft Brands Rural Divide National Crisis 

In a blog post from Shelley McKinley, VP of Microsoft Technology and Corporate Responsibility Group, talked about a team of Amish-owned horses dragging a load up a ridge in rural New York state, pointing out that the only thing that distinguished the scene from a Norman Rockwell painting was that it was a load of telecom equipment. 

She gave the FCC credit for its effort to improve broadband data and mapping, saying that it remains problematic when the FCC data show access where none exists. 

But saying the country can't wait on perfect data, McKinley reeled of some numbers to indicate Microsoft's progress. That included reaching 633,000 previously unserved people.  

She also said the price of TV white spaces devices continues to drop, including by 50% in the last year. 

She also applauded the FCC's vote last week to increase tower heights and boost power levels--things Microsoft had proposed--to expand the use of TV white spaces for unlicensed broadband, as well as its $20 billion-plus rural broadband subsidy fund. 

While presidential candidates are eyeing Iowa for another reason, Microsoft is there this week--at the State Fair--to pitch its Airband solution to the rural broadband divide, a gap in broadband access it is branding an "urgent national crisis" as it looks to lasso more spectrum from the government. 

While some may be attending the fair to see the life-size butter cow or the "mutton Bustin' kids sheep-riding challenge, Microsoft is looking to attract fair-goers with some down (broadband) home talk about their "digital realities," the promise of "reliable, affordable, broadband," and maybe buttonhole a couple of baby-kissing pols for a conversation in the bargain.

Microsoft is pushing the FCC to allow more sharing of the "white spaces" in the broadcast band for unlicensed wireless, while broadcasters are more circumspect about the prospect, though willing to explore most of Microsoft's efforts, so long as broadcast signals are protected from interference, and from Microsoft's efforts to free up the first channel adjacent to broadcasters in the band for unlicensed use.  

In an interview with C-SPAN, National Association of Broadcasters president Gordon Smith said broadcasters were now in a good place with Microsoft on white spaces after what he said was the computer company's launch of a PR campaign before it had a legislative policy campaign. But that does not include giving up that buffer channel, which NAB continues to signal is too close for comfort. 

In a blog post Thursday (Aug. 8), Shelley McKinley, head of technology and corporate responsibility for Microsoft said it has been clear the deployment gap is a crisis "for some time," which is why it is pusing its Airband initiative, which is scheduled to reach 3 million poeple in "unserved" rural areas by 2020. 

McKinley did not name Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who just announced her own rural broadband plan, though she did write that it was "encouraging" to see new proposals introduced by Democratic candidates. 

Broadcasters have said that if Microsoft's Airband initiative is really focused on the rural divide, there is plenty of open spectrum to use without getting too close to existing broadcasters. But McKinley said that there are broadband "deserts" in urban areas, too, "where costs can be unaffordable and availability non-existent." 

"To be sure, there are efforts underway to provide the funding and assistance needed to expand broadband coverage for rural areas, by the administration, Congress, governors and the private sector," she conceded, "including Microsoft and our Airband partners. But much more needs to be done to translate proposals into action."