The members of WifiForward believe that Wi-Fi and unlicensed technologies are critical to the U.S. economy and to consumers. Intensive and innovative use of unlicensed spectrum frequencies – which power Wi-Fi and many other consumer and industrial technologies like Bluetooth, ZigBee and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) – is an incredible success story:

● We depend on Wi-Fi for fast and convenient connections to the Internet – from homes, offices and on the go.

● Businesses know Wi-Fi is critical to their bottom lines – retail stores, hospitals, hotels, event spaces, transportation hubs and coffee shops all understand that superfast Wi-Fi connections are essential to attracting and retaining customers. Today, offices in every sector of our economy are more efficient because their employees can connect and transmit information untethered to the desktop.

● Residential broadband companies and mobile network operators rely on Wi-Fi to handle their customers growing data needs – every month more and more traffic flows to Wi-Fi networks. This technology is particularly useful in rural areas not covered by wired broadband networks.

● Schools, libraries, public safety organizations and emergency responders increasingly depend on fast and reliable Wi-Fi to better meet a growing demand for Internet access and achieve equity in access to the Internet in our communities.

● And it’s not just Wi-Fi: other innovations like Bluetooth-enabled hands-free wireless calling, ZigBee-enabled products for home automation and the Internet of Things, WirelessHART industrial monitoring systems and RFID-enabled logistics and tracking systems all run on unlicensed spectrum.

Over the last decade, industry and standards organizations have developed technological standards that maximize the success of all these technologies.

While no one entity speaks for Wi-Fi and unlicensed spectrum policymakers must understand to know that everyone has a stake in its success. As consumers, businesses and organizations, we have come to rely on and require the innovative services and products that run on these frequencies.
Recognizing that FCC intervention or other governmental mandates on standards should be considered only as a last resort, we ask policymakers to join us in calling for a multi-stakeholder consensus about standard-setting for unlicensed spectrum to ensure that our rich existing Wi-Fi ecology continues to grow and thrive.

To ‘Save Our Wi-Fi’ and the unlicensed spectrum ecosystem, we need to:

1. Protect and strengthen existing unlicensed spectrum designations;

2. Free up new spectrum for unlicensed use at a variety of frequencies, including low, medium and high frequency bands;

3. Ensure that unlicensed spectrum remains a place for innovation where no single user can crowd out another user; and

4. Support and promote investment-friendly, transparent and predictable unlicensed policies that encourage growth and deployment.