Federal Communications Commission	FCC 23-86
STATEMENT OF
CHAIRWOMAN JESSICA ROSENWORCEL

Re: 	Unlicensed Use of the 6 GHz Band, Expanding Flexible Use in Mid-Band Spectrum Between 3.7 and 24 GHz; ET Docket No. 18-295, GN Docket No. 17-183; Second Report and Order and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (October 19, 2023)

	Our lives run on unlicensed spectrum.  Consider the laptop you pulled open this morning to check your e-mail, the baby monitor you use to keep tabs on your child at night, the fitness tracker you use to count your steps, or the tunes you stream over your phone to power you through a workout.  No matter who you are or where you live, the odds are good that all sorts of activities in your day-to-day life depend on wireless airwaves that are unlicensed.  

	Unlicensed spectrum is an invisible force.  It contributes more than $95 billion to our economy every year.  It helps make our lives more convenient, more connected, and more productive.

	This was no accident.  It is the result of wireless policy choices that were made by the Federal Communications Commission more than three decades ago.  Our engineers challenged the status quo by suggesting that spectrum that was not licensed to specific individuals could be useful for all.  So the FCC opened a handful of underused frequencies—airwaves that were widely viewed as “garbage bands”—to anyone who followed some basic technical rules.

	What followed was revolutionary.  We made it possible to access airwaves without licenses, to innovate without permission, and to develop low-power wireless technologies that have changed the way we live and work.  But the best-known development from this effort was Wi-Fi.  Because unlicensed airwaves are the spectrum where Wi-Fi was born.  

	The challenge now is to keep this good stuff growing.  So a few years ago, when the global pandemic put our Wi-Fi routers centerstage, the FCC determined it was vital to identify additional spectrum to carry our unlicensed wireless activity and set aside a large swath of airwaves in the 6 GHz band.  This was the right thing to do.  Because as fiber, cable, and commercial wireless move to gigabit speeds, we need to ensure our Wi-Fi connections have the wider channels and additional bandwidth they need to keep pace.

	Today we take the effort to support unlicensed activity in the 6GHz band even further.  We are opening up 850 megahertz of the 6 GHz band to small mobile devices operating at very low power, while putting in place common sense safeguards to protect incumbent uses.  We are also proposing to open up an additional 350 megahertz of the 6 GHz band for very low power devices.  

	This means we are expanding access to the 6 GHz band to help jumpstart the next generation of unlicensed wireless devices.  So get ready.  Because we now have unlicensed bandwidth with a terrific mix of high capacity and low latency that can deliver new immersive, real-time applications.  That means these are the airwaves where we can develop new wearable technologies and expand access to augmented and virtual reality.  

	These are the airwaves where the future happens—and with the 6 GHz band the United States is leading the way.  

Thank you to the staff responsible for this effort, including Ron Repasi, Ira Keltz, Jamison Prime, Michael Ha, Nick Oros, Bahman Badipour, Hugh VanTuyl, Aole Wilkinsel, Dusmantha Tennakoon, Jim Szeliga, Damian Ariza, Barbara Pavon, Aniqa Tahsin, and David Duarte from the Office of Engineering and Technology; Roger Noel, Paul Powell, Blaise Scinto, John Schauble, Chris Andes, and Stephen Buenzow from the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau; Keith McCrickard, Doug Klein, Anjali Singh, and Jim Carr from the Office of General Counsel; Ken Lynch, Kate Matraves, Patrick Sun, and Aleks Yankelevich from the Office of Economics and Analytics; Kathy Harvey, Jason Koslofsky, David Marks, and Neil McNeil from the Enforcement Bureau; David Furth, Renee Roland, John Evanoff, Rasoul Safavian, Brian Marenco, and Tracy Simmons from the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau; Michael Gussow and Joy Ragsdale from the Office of Communications Business Opportunities; Sankar Persaud and Franco Hinojosa from the Space Bureau; Ethan Lucarelli and Dante Ibarra from the Office of International Affairs; and Jeff Neumann from the Media Bureau.