By Ryan Johnston
Unlicensed spectrum powers an incredible number of the devices we all use every day. For example, in 2023 it was estimated that the average U.S. household with Internet access had 17 connected devices. However, spectrum is a finite resource and finding more for unlicensed often means repurposing bands from one use to another.
On September 26, 2024, in conjunction with the release of the paper Assessing the Economic Value of Wi-Fi in the United States, Next Century Cities’ Ryan Johnston joined a congressional briefing panel with representatives from the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and the Innovation Economy Alliance to discuss the importance of unlicensed spectrum and Wi-Fi.
Ryan highlighted that communities nationwide use unlicensed spectrum for a myriad of things. Including, public wifi, broadband deployment projects, optimizing emergency response routes, monitoring energy usage, and determining traffic and pedestrian pattern recognition. All of these uses are dependent upon technologies that use unlicensed spectrum and Wi-Fi to talk to one another and the central hub where data is stored and analyzed. Ryan also explained that licensed spectrum and cellular networks are insufficient for communities because of the large costs associated with procuring FCC spectrum licenses.
Finally, Ryan noted that there are an incredible number of municipalities nationwide that are using unlicensed spectrum to help close the digital divide. For example, in September in Boston over 33,000 unique users utilized the city’s public wifi accounting for almost 4 terabytes of data throughput. Similarly, in Louisville for the week of September 16, 2024, over 1300 unique users logged on to the city’s public wifi using more than 350 gigabytes of data. Additionally, in NCC’s recent report Broadband Affordability: The Metrics that Drive and Divide Us, authors Corian Zacher and Stacey Baxter show how unlicensed spectrum has helped connect students to their classwork, patients to their doctors, and address broadband affordability.
As the Commission and NTIA look to further the National Spectrum Strategy, both agencies should keep in mind the critical work cities are doing. Making more unlicensed spectrum available can supercharge these efforts and help accelerate closing the digital divide.
