The Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research program, created and funded by the by the U.S. National Science Foundation and industry consortium partners, announced that the Federal Communications Commission has created a new spectrum Innovation Zone to promote rural connectivity and precision agriculture research at the site of the ARA wireless testbed in Central Iowa.
A recurrent theme from US cellular industry commentary in recent years has been complaints about supposedly unused or underused spectrum that could be put to "better" use. Yet there is surprisingly little focus on the major carriers' own fallow and underused spectrum assets, which deserve similar scrutiny. We have heard repeated claims that Citizens Broadband Radio Service spectrum is not used sufficiently or that dynamic sharing mechanisms are allegedly inefficient. The benefits of technology innovation and new deployment models are downplayed.
Broadband news digest for August 31, 2026
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