It’s only good vibes (and good spectrum policy) for this edition of our biweekly newsletter, Frequency Pulse (see our past editions on the WifiForward website). This week, we asked our panelists: How can good spectrum policy help to address the digital divide? 

Image by Alina Grubnyak

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Kristian Stout, ICLE, Director of Innovation Policy:

We live in a world of scarcity, spectrum included. Finding the most efficient ways to deploy spectrum ultimately provides the optimal outcomes for everyone given that scarcity. And that means that efficient spectrum policy provides the best hope of closing the digital divide. 

Harold Feld, Public Knowledge, Senior Vice President:

Spectrum policy is critical for access to affordable broadband in both rural and urban fixed areas. Specifically, the availability of unlicensed spectrum, which reduces the cost of deployment and creates economies of scale by showing up in. consumer devices. This works in several ways.

Fixed wireless is an important part of bringing broadband to rural areas. It can be used for either backhaul (at high power) or for point-to-point to provide the “last mile” to connect the customer. Thousands of small ISPs provide affordable broadband in rural (and urban) areas. This is possible because they do not have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire exclusive use spectrum at auction.

In urban areas, mesh networking allows hundreds of residents in apartment buildings or other MTEs (multi-tenant environments) to share connectivity through one high-capacity fiber line by connecting their Wi-Fi to the network. This allows those in poor urban communities to divide the cost of the connection among themselves. Essentially, the building becomes a mini-wireless ISP. This allows the residents of these neighborhoods to get a subscription for a few dollars a month, whereas a subscription to a commercial ISP for comparable service could easily cost ten times as much.

All this depends on making more spectrum available for unlicensed access. Additionally, this new spectrum needs to come from frequency ranges in the low, middle and high-frequency bands — just as it does for commercial mobile licenses.

Bartlett Cleland, Innovation Economy Institute, Executive Director:

A balanced approach to spectrum allows for the great combination of research and experimentation that is easier in unlicensed as well as the market-driven focus of licensed spectrum. Both will be needed to adequately reach all Americans with broadband.

Rick Chessen, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, Senior Vice President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs and Chief Legal Officer:

A balanced spectrum policy is critical to addressing the digital divide. Many technological tools are needed to bring broadband to Americans where they are. In rural areas where next-generation mobile wireless may not be available for some time, unlicensed and shared spectrum technologies — such as Wi-Fi and fixed wireless broadband — can more quickly deliver the benefits of next-generation broadband speeds. If spectrum policy handicaps these technologies through allocations that favor services that are centered on urban and suburban areas, or blocks new technologies from underused bands, it could undermine efforts to address the digital divide.

Now it’s your turn: tweet us or email us with your take on spectrum policy to join this conversation. We might feature thoughtful submissions right here in a future piece.