Licensed Spectrum Best for Some Broadband Projects, UTC Says
The FCC should let only projects with technologies offering real broadband participate in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, the Utilities Technology Council said in meetings with aides to the five commissioners. UTC suggested “requiring the use of licensed spectrum for…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
projects that propose to provide broadband speeds of 100 Mbps or greater, or alternatively providing a weighting factor in favor of projects that use licensed spectrum,” in 19-126, posted Tuesday. “Not only will that help to ensure that wireless broadband networks will actually provide the speeds that they propose to offer, but it will also help to provide customers with the quality of service that they need for reliability. It will also promote better coverage into areas compared to unlicensed wireless technologies.” UTC wants the FCC to introduce new challenge procedures to help counter misrepresentations in broadband deployment data that have kept some utilities from accessing rural broadband funds, it said: "The participants emphasized that they do not want to delay RDOF, but they nevertheless urged the Commission to develop a better challenge process."