FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai says he knows firsthand the importance of wireless ISPs
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said he knows firsthand the importance of wireless ISPs, since he grew up in a small town in Kansas where a WISP was the only source for high-speed Internet, speaking Wednesday at WISPAPALOOZA, an annual meeting…
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for WISPs. “I believe the FCC should be on the side of entrepreneurs like WISPs, and that means in part being in favor of unlicensed spectrum,” he said. Pai said he was looking closely at concerns raised by WISPA about restrictions the FCC places on out-of-band emissions in the 5725-5850 MHz band (see 1408250034). “I take those concerns seriously,” Pai said (http://bit.ly/11wleKQ). “And I hope the FCC will work with WISPA and develop an engineering solution and implementation schedule that will satisfy everyone’s concerns.” Pai said he's also pushing to open bands for unlicensed use. “Gigabit wireless throughput is at our doorstep,” he said. Pai said his parents still rely on Wave Wireless for service, a WISP with more than 23,000 customers in southeast Kansas. Wave’s story “isn’t unusual,” he said. “At last count, about 2,000 WISPs in the United States serve approximately 2 million consumers.”