Washington, D.C. – Today, WifiForward released the following statement in response to mobile carriers’ latest efforts to use an international trade association to undermine Americans’ access to fast, reliable Wi-Fi:

“Spectrum belongs to the American people, which is why the Trump Administration secured the entire 6 GHz band for unlicensed use: to ensure U.S. consumers and businesses got the benefits of the spectrum they own, including affordable connectivity for their devices, faster speeds, and more innovation.

“But now Big Cellular’s global trade association– whose U.S. members constantly tell Wall Street they already have more spectrum than they need – is pushing a bogus study to argue that the very spectrum delivering affordable connections across the country should be taken away from the American people and sold off to monopolistic cellphone providers so that they can resell it back to the same people through expensive monthly cellphone plans.

“Their arguments are tired, and their tactics are greedy. Opening up the 6 GHz band generated nearly $1 trillion in incremental economic value in just two years. It also prioritized spectrum to reflect the way Americans actually use it, with 90% of U.S. mobile data running on Wi-Fi. Big Cellular is teaming up with Chinese Communist Party-operated businesses like Huawei to undo this economic success and leave American consumers footing the bill. Instead of allowing cellphone providers to hoard even more spectrum for themselves, lawmakers should dismiss this Huawei-backed ‘study’ and ensure American policies continue to benefit the American people.”

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