The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules that make 1,200 megahertz of spectrum in the 6 GHz band (5.925–7.125 GHz) available for unlicensed use. These new rules will usher in Wi-Fi 6, the next generation of Wi-Fi, and play a major role in the growth of the Internet of Things. Wi-Fi 6 will be over two-and-a-half times faster than the current standard and will offer better performance for American consumers. Opening the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use will also increase the amount of spectrum available for Wi-Fi by nearly a factor of five and help improve rural connectivity.

The 6 GHz band is currently populated by, among others, microwave services that are used to support utilities, public safety, and wireless backhaul. Unlicensed devices will share this spectrum with incumbent licensed services under rules crafted to protect those licensed services and enable both unlicensed and licensed operations to thrive throughout the band. The Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks comment on a proposal to permit very lowpower devices to operate across the 6 GHz band to support high data rate applications including high-performance, wearable, augmented-reality and virtual-reality devices. The notice also seeks comment on increasing the power at which low-power indoor access points may operate.

In making broad swaths of the 6 GHz spectrum available for unlicensed use, the FCC envisions new innovative technologies and services that will deliver new devices and applications to American consumers and advance the FCC’s goal of making broadband connectivity available to all Americans, especially those in rural and underserved areas.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai says the FCC is committed to holding ISPs to their Keep Americans Connected pledge to keep subscribers connected during the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked how the FCC would enforce the pledge, Chairman Pai said he has been personally working with the FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau to "make sure that providers are following through with the commitments that they made." But the pledge is voluntary, so it's not something the Enforcement Bureau can enforce. Chairman Pai also said he would use every tool in the toolbox, if necessary, to enforce it, which could include referring anyone who did not keep their pledge to the Federal Trade Commission, with which it has a memorandum of understanding. He said that, as the FCC did with the issue of robocalls, he stands ready to work with the FTC on the pledge enforcement.

Companies that deploy fiber broadband networks are seeing increased demand for their services. The pandemic is highlighting the need for faster uplink speeds, according to Adtran's Gary Bolton. “Video conferences are symmetric, and on a cable network you are lucky to have a [megabit] of upstream,” he said. “The need for fiber infrastructure is greater than ever.” Bolton thinks the current situation will have a lasting impact on demand for broadband. “When we get back to 'normal' it is not going to be the world we once knew,” Bolton said. “More people realize they need broadband. .... Even the last people to adopt online services are now being forced to use them.”

As the world raced to contain COVID-19, it effectively launched a necessary but costly experiment: Move all possible economic activity online to flatten the pandemic’s curve and save lives. But digitally recreating the economy-as-usual has its limits and the “Great Lockdown” comes with devastating economic costs. The digital experience needs fixing. Even as companies slowly return to business as usual, we’ll continue to see record numbers of people working remotely for the foreseeable future. During the peak of the surge, web traffic in San Francisco alone increased over 48 percent since the beginning of 2020. And while the internet has mostly held up, 88 out of the most populous cities critical to American productivity experienced a network slowdown by the end of March. San Jose, New York, Austin, Charlotte, Washington D.C. and Houston experienced an unacceptable 24-44 percent decline in internet speed. In aggregate, this will have significant economic costs. City governments should work with large employers to coordinate and prioritize peak-time use, much in the way municipal authorities plan for snow removal, re-routing of vehicles and synchronizing traffic lights to streamline commutes. In addition, with broadband access among the most expensive in the world, subsidies are needed to compensate for this ugly American reality. While cable and telecom companies have agreed to defer fee payments and even raise data caps temporarily, these periods have to be lengthened and the fees reduced indefinitely until there is clarity on lifting of restrictions.

[Bhaskar Chakravorti is dean of global business at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University]

An agreement between the city and Greenlight Networks should help the local company expand into the Rochester neighborhoods. But obstacles remain with securing easements and access to utility poles. And while the pact was touted as a means to close the digital divide, it is uncertain how and when low-income customers might benefit. Greenlight's initial projects, already in planning with customers signed up, will be in Park Avenue and Cobbs Hill neighborhoods this summer and fall. The company's high-speed fiber optic Internet network reaches about 11,000 city households today and expected to add another 1,200 by year end. The digital divide in Rochester is significant. A recent Rochester City School District survey found that 1,700 high school students, or 55% of all students surveyed, did not have internet access at home.

Sens Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Reps Peter Welch (D-VT) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) wrote a letter to President Donald Trump urging the Administration to support dedicated funding for small broadband providers to keep students and low-income families in their communities connected to the internet during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Many small broadband providers have committed to sustaining critical broadband services and upgrades for students and low-income families who cannot afford payment during this public health crisis. But these small broadband providers—which contribute to more than 77,000 jobs and support more than $10 billion in economic activity in the United States—may be unable to continue to provide these services if customers are unable to pay for a prolonged period of time. Although the CARES Act included funding for rural broadband deployment, it did not include dedicated funding to help small broadband providers sustain services and upgrades for students and low-income families. Without support from your Administration, small providers may be unable to ensure that the communities they serve have access to critical internet connectivity.

Over the course of my three decades with Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS), I thought I had seen it all, but I never could have foreseen the challenge of educating amid a global pandemic. From Day One, we knew our biggest challenge would be getting students access to lessons without physical access to schools. PGCPS is home to more than 136,500 students; 82,000 receive free and reduced-price meals — an indication of limited resources at home that may extend to a child’s Internet access. For these students and families, many of whom struggle to make ends meet in a stable economy, distance learning online is not an option. And without access, students fall behind. It is not a complex equation. The novel coronavirus exposed, at a national scale, the equality gap between students with Internet access and those without.

To bridge this digital divide, we need federal intervention. In the stimulus package signed into law, Congress failed to provide direct funding for distance learning. Future stimulus legislation must include funding for expanded broadband access, particularly with an enhanced E-Rate program for broadband access to schools and libraries. Removing systematic barriers to education is a national emergency every day, but now the urgency is as great as ever before. In these trying times, we are already seeing what happens when we don’t answer the call when an alarm is sounded — or wait too long to act.

[Monica Goldson is chief executive of Prince George’s County Public Schools]

74 senators cosigned a letter to the Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Russell Vought to support radio and televisions broadcasters and local newspapers during the Coronavirus pandemic. Our radio and television broadcasters and rural newspapers provide local and national news, emergency alerts, educational programs, and more to all corners of the United States. In many rural areas, broadcast stations are the predominant or only form of local information, they wrote. We encourage the Office of Management and Budget to work with federal agencies throughout the government to increase advertising in local newspapers and on broadcast stations in order to help ensure they are able to continue to operate throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.