Wifi Forward says the FCC needs to free up more unlicensed wireless if the Obama Administration's ConnectED goals of getting WiFi to every classroom and high-speed Internet to 99% of students is to be met.
In a paper presented Wednesday, the group said that educators needed to get behind the following recommendations: Getting gigabit WiFi access to more unlicensed spectrum in the 5 GHz band; FCC action to free up more spectrum in the 600 MHz broadcast bands—soon to be broadcast/wireless bands; and "reasonable rules" for spectrum sharing in the 3.5 GHz band.
Wifi Forward is a broad-based coalition whose members include the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Microsoft, the Consumer Electronics Association, Motorola and Google. Cable ops have increasingly seen WiFi as their mobile broadband play, with hundreds of thousands of hot spots allowing their subs broadband access on the go.
