Wi-Fi Advocates Ask FCC to Open 5.9 GHz Band for Wi-Fi

Cable and other Wi-Fi advocates urged the FCC to act on reallocating the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use, in a call with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. Charter Communications, Comcast, Facebook and NCTA were among those on the call. “The 5.9 GHz band is key to delivering gigabit Wi-Fi and much-needed unlicensed capacity to American consumers in the very near term,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-138: “Consumers heavily rely on Wi-Fi to connect to the internet, as Wi-Fi carries a majority of internet traffic and a significant percentage of the traffic offloaded from mobile networks, and are using it more than ever before to work, learn, connect with each other and engage with their communities from a distance.” A vote on the band is expected at the Oct. 27 commissioners’ meeting (see 2008200040).