Why Muni-wireless advocates should be pushing for more public spectrum

J.H. Snider writes on his Telecom Policy Blog about why Municipal WiFi and Spectrum Policy go hand in hand. His arguments are clear and to the point, and this is something that I wholeheartedly agree with. I would go a step further and say that in addition to muniwireless advocates, both techno-savvy consumers and technology companies that create hardware that uses unlicensed spectrum—such as Wi-Fi and network equipment vendors like Cisco, Netgear, and Apple—should be pushing for more public spectrum as well. These are people and companies that are going to be crowded by the addition of city-wide Wi-Fi deployments, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t create a larger public resource for everyone to play in.

For the last several years municipal WiFi policy advocates have been in survival mode. With more than a dozen legislatures—and many more waiting in the wings - seeking various ways to fatally wound municipal WiFi, the overwhelming first priority of municipal WiFi advocates has been to fight off this mortal threat. This agenda made sense. If you’re dead, the rest of life’s treats become irrelevant.

But it’s now clear that municipal WiFi will not die. Sure, attempts to kill it will continue. And, here and there, some of those attempts will probably succeed. But the municipal WiFi movement is no longer in its cradle. It’s now a strapping adolescent and couldn’t be destroyed without a highly visible, blood spattered battle-a type of battle disliked by the vast majority of successful politicians.

Thus, I believe the time is right for municipal WiFi advocates to shift at least some of their focus to spectrum policy. Why is this important? Because municipal WiFi uses unlicensed spectrum, and the quality and quantity of that spectrum has a direct bearing on the cost and quality of the broadband services they can provide. The more unlicensed spectrum they have, especially in the lower frequencies, the better and more affordable the service they can provide.