As the Federal Communications Commission prepares to vote on changes to use requirements for a portion of the 2.5 GHz band, certain non-profit groups and incumbent users voiced criticism Wednesday, citing harm to education and rural Americans.
The draft order, released Wednesday, would eliminate educational-use requirements currently in place for licenses in the Educational Broadband Service (EBS) portion of the band, establish a priority filing window for rural Tribal Nations to obtain spectrum, and then auction off remaining unused white space portions of the spectrum that could be used for 5G.
The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, an advocacy group supporting broadband connectivity for institutions and communities, opposed the order saying social and economic benefits of awarding licenses to schools and Tribal Nations would be significantly greater than moving directly to an auction.
Read more at Fiercewireless.com.
