Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have reintroduced the WiFi Innovation Act, a bill they first introduced last June as one of a series of bills meant to boost wireless broadband.
The bill would require the Federal Communications Commission to test the feasibility of opening up the upper portion of the 5-GHz spectrum band for unlicensed use – like cable WiFi hot spots.
The bill directs the FCC to "move swiftly" in seeking comment and testing the feasibility of opening the 5850-5925 band for unlicensed; explicitly acknowledges the need to balance that with intelligent transportation systems that operate/will operate in that band; also "establishes a study to examine Wi-Fi deployment in low-income communities and the barriers preventing deployment of wireless networks in low-income neighborhoods" and asks the FCC to look at ways to boost unlicensed availability in those neighborhoods.
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