This week saw the historic confirmation hearing of Jessica Rosenworcel for the post of Chairwoman of the FCC. Rosenworcel, who has been designated the acting chairwoman of the FCC since January, is poised to become the first-ever woman to hold the permanent seat. 

She faced a bevy of questions from the Senate Commerce Committee on topics including broadband coverage mapping, net neutrality, robocalls, USF contribution reform, inter-agency collaboration and of course spectrum allocation. 

“Communications technologies today are the infrastructure of opportunity,” Rosenworcel said in her opening remarks. “We also need these connections to break down barriers that for too long have held too many back.”

This referenced her coining the term “homework gap” and her commitment to closing the digital divide, especially for children. She highlighted the FCC’s efforts during her tenure to make progress on this goal. 

“This pandemic has proven that we need to get broadband to everyone, everywhere, to 100% of the country and we can’t accept anything less,” the acting chairwoman said. “The range of opportunities in need of wise decisions, shepherded by the next FCC chair, included stewardship of the most valuable of limited technological resources: that of electromagnetic spectrum frequencies. 

“The laws of physics mean we’re not making more spectrum, so we have to reclaim it from older uses and sometimes that requires going to federal actors and asking them to choose to be more efficient with their current allocations,” Rosenworcel said, when pressed on coordination with the NTIA and other government agencies on sharing the airwaves as efficiently as possible. “We rely on our phones for much of our day-to-day life. When you add it up with Wi-Fi and all the new ways that we’re going to start connecting the world around us, you realize you need more of that spectrum for commercial activity.” 

To that end, Rosenworcel said, renewed dedication to innovative ideas and technology would be absolutely imperative. “We need to foster innovation across the board to ensure that the technological leadership of the United States continues on a global stage,” Rosenworcel said in her prepared remarks. 

If she’s confirmed, WifiForward looks forward to continuing to work with Chairwoman Rosenworcel and her colleagues as they consider smart, balanced and forward-thinking spectrum policy.