Some of America’s most productive farming starts in Washington, D.C.
The Federal Communications Commission’s offices in the District don’t feature arable land, but they are where government regulators cultivate swaths of spectrum for use by wireless carriers.
It’s not a fast process, but it’s essential to keep our bits flowing as smartphone use escalates while 5G wireless begins to connect many more devices beyond phones. And a round of upcoming auctions promises to fill the missing middle of that next-generation standard, making its faster speeds far more available—without requiring today’s smartphone shoppers to replace their newest purchases.
What makes evolution in wireless possible is this opening up of greenfield spectrum,” says Harold Feld, senior vice president at the D.C.-based nonprofit policy group Public Knowledge. “Every time we’ve moved forward, we’ve had a bunch of auctions to create the new spectrum that we’re gonna need.”
Starting in 2018,…
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Source : fastcompany.com
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