{"id":175822,"date":"2020-11-18T20:04:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T01:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2020\/11\/18\/ajit-pai-does-something-right\/"},"modified":"2020-11-18T20:04:00","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T01:04:00","slug":"ajit-pai-does-something-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2020\/11\/18\/ajit-pai-does-something-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Ajit Pai Does Something Right"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Well, knock me over with a sledge hammer.<\/p>\n<p>  The FCC has voted to take back about 75% of the spectrum that it allocated to   the auto industry for self driving cars because: <\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>    It really can not work, because you cannot get deer to wear transmitters.   <\/li>\n<li>    All the technology demonstrations have shown that you do not need anything near a full 75     MHz for this technology.   <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>  The automobile industry fought this tooth and nail, because they want to use   the space to bombard drivers with advertisements, but the FCC   <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicknowledge.org\/press-release\/public-knowledge-applauds-fcc-reclaiming-spectrum-to-help-close-digital-divide\/\">unanimously voted to reduce the allocated bandwidth from 75 MHZ to 30     MHz<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The intent is to reallocate the spectrum to rural broadband and the like. <\/p>\n<p>Full press release after break:<\/p>\n<p><span><a name='more'><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h1>  Public Knowledge Applauds FCC Reclaiming Spectrum to Help Close Digital Divide <\/h1>\n<p> <span>  <b>    By&nbsp;     <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicknowledge.org\/blog\/author\/shiva-stella\/\">      Shiva Stella     <\/a>    &nbsp;   <\/b><\/span> <span>November 18, 2020<\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicknowledge.org\/tag\/broadband-access\/\" rel=\"tag\">Broadband Access<\/a>,   <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicknowledge.org\/tag\/digital-divide\/\" rel=\"tag\">Digital Divide<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicknowledge.org\/tag\/dsrc\/\" rel=\"tag\">DSRC<\/a>,   <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicknowledge.org\/tag\/fcc\/\" rel=\"tag\">FCC<\/a>,   <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicknowledge.org\/tag\/rural-broadband\/\" rel=\"tag\">Rural Broadband<\/a>,   <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicknowledge.org\/tag\/spectrum\/\" rel=\"tag\">Spectrum<\/a><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <span lang=\"EN\">Today, the Federal Communications Commission unanimously adopted an Order     reclaiming the 5.9 GHz spectrum band from the auto industry in order to help     close the digital divide.   <\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <span lang=\"EN\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fcc.gov\/document\/amend-rules-regarding-dedicated-short-range-communications-services-and\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #1155cc;\">In 2004<\/span><\/a>, the agency gave the auto industry 75 MHz of spectrum exclusively for \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicknowledge.org\/video\/the-fcc-and-automakers-must-save-our-wifi\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #1155cc;\">Dedicated Short-Range Communications<\/span><\/a>\u201d (DSRC) for the purpose of improving public safety. After 20 years of     waiting for the industry to deploy DSRC, the FCC will phase out DSRC and     replace it with a new, more efficient technology called C-V2X (cellular     communication to vehicles (C-V2V) and infrastructure (C-V2I), collectively     \u201cC-V2X\u201d).   <\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <span lang=\"EN\">Based on the record, the auto industry will require only 30 MHz of spectrum     for collision avoidance and safety purposes. Rather than allowing the auto     industry to use the remaining 45 MHz of free spectrum for commercial     purposes such as location-based advertising, under this proposal the FCC     will repurpose 45 MHz for rural broadband and next generation WiFi needed to     support telemedicine and other high-bandwidth applications.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <span lang=\"EN\">The 5.9 GHz band sits next to the existing \u201cunlicensed\u201d spectrum band at     5.8 GHz. Adding the 45 MHz to this band will allow existing equipment to     support gigabit WiFi necessary for telemedicine, multiple education streams,     and other valuable services. Furthermore, access to this additional spectrum     will allow wireless internet service providers in rural areas to     dramatically increase the stability and bandwidth of connections to the     home. <\/span><span lang=\"EN\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <span lang=\"EN\">The following can be attributed to Harold Feld, Senior Vice President at     Public Knowledge:   <\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <span lang=\"EN\">\u201cToday\u2019s FCC action is a win for closing the digital divide, a win for     closing the homework gap, and a win for auto safety. The addition of 45 MHz     of unlicensed spectrum will create a WiFi channel capable of supporting WiFi     6. This will enable wireless providers to dramatically increase the speed     and reliability of rural broadband. It will dramatically increase the power     of public hotspots and mobile hotspots on which many low-income families     rely for access to school and work during the pandemic. Because this relies     on already existing technology, the expansion and change to WiFi 6 can     happen relatively quickly through software upgrades once the rules become     effective.<\/span><span lang=\"EN\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <span lang=\"EN\">\u201cIn addition, the FCC will phase out the outmoded vehicle communication     technology selected as the standard 20 years ago and will phase in a modern,     more efficient technology requiring substantially less spectrum for     collision avoidance and safety. The FCC has quite properly denied the auto     industry     <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techdirt.com\/articles\/20201026\/08054045587\/safety-name-commercial-fact-auto-industry-spectrum-squatting-campaign-59-ghz-widens-digital-divide.shtml\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #1155cc;\">desire to repurpose<\/span><\/a>    the excess spectrum for infotainment, behavioral advertising, and other     commercial purposes that rely on collecting more and more of the public\u2019s     personal data and information. The auto industry should not be allowed to     commercialize spectrum intended for public safety \u2014 especially when doing so     would come at the expense of tens of millions of Americans on the wrong side     of the digital divide and the homework gap.\u201d<\/span><span lang=\"EN\"> <br \/><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, knock me over with a sledge hammer. The FCC has voted to take back about 75% of the spectrum that it allocated to the auto industry for self driving cars because: It really can not work, because you cannot get deer to wear transmitters. All the technology demonstrations have shown that you do not &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[473,470,437,382,471],"class_list":["post-175822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-auto-industry","tag-communications","tag-regulation","tag-technology","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}