New Report from Open Technology Institute Proposes New Rules for Sharing the 5.9 GHz “Car Band”

Today, the Wireless Future Program, part of New America’s Open Technology Institute, released a new report and recommendations that would allow super-fast Wi-Fi to share the large but mostly-unused “car band” at 5.9 GHz.

The auto industry and high-tech companies are on a collision course over access to a large but mostly unused band of spectrum. The White House is caught in the middle between two agencies: The FCC and its desire to facilitate high-speed Wi-Fi and the Department of Transportation’s push to mandate a wireless safety signaling system in all new cars.The report proposes that segmenting the band strikes the best balance between the public interest in auto safety and the more immediate benefits of more high-capacity and affordable mobile broadband.

The report will be launched at an event today at New America featuring FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Michael O’Rielly offering keynote remarks about the importance of increased Wi-Fi capacity and the prospects of sharing the band. Remarks by the commissioners will be followed by a discussion with the Deputy Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, representatives from Qualcomm and Cisco, which each have competing proposals for sharing the band, and panelists from Public Knowledge, WifiForward, and New America’s Wireless Future Program.

The following quote can be attributed to Michael Calabrese, Director of the Wireless Future Program at the Open Technology Institute:

There is clearly a win-win solution that would set aside a portion of the 5.9 GHz frequency band exclusively for auto safety, while allowing Wi-Fi to share the rest of the band with non-safety auto applications. Sharing this under-utilized public spectrum would strike the best balance between the public interest in auto safety and high-capacity Wi-Fi.