By Claus Hetting, Wi-Fi NOW CEO & Chairman
Last week two US Congressmen launched the first ever ‘Congressional Wi-Fi Caucus’. The caucus will now be the primary Congressional forum for directly addressing Wi-Fi-related policy issues.
Last week US Representatives Bob Latta (Republican of Ohio) and Jerry McNerney (Democrat of California) launched the first ever ‘Congressional Wi-Fi Caucus’. The purpose of the caucus is to address policy issues specifically related to Wi-Fi. “While a number of existing caucuses focus on policy issues that overlap, there is currently no caucus dedicated to addressing the policy issues specific to Wi-Fi,” said Congressman Bob Latta in this statement.
He also said that Wi-Fi is the primary technology for Internet access “delivering more than half of all internet traffic and over sixty percent of mobile network traffic offload” and that the Caucus “will focus its efforts on Wi-Fi in relation to a number of issues, including 5G, cybersecurity, internet-of-things (IoT), smart cities, spectrum optimization, autonomous vehicles, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and more.”
The Wi-Fi Alliance and its members of course strongly support and applaud the launch of the Caucus and released this statement. In the US a ‘congressional caucus’ is a group of members of the United States Congress that meets to pursue common legislative objectives.
Wi-Fi is increasingly recognised by legislators and regulators in the US as critical for socio-economic progress. As of early October the FCC appears firmly on track to more than doubling available Wi-Fi spectrum with a ruling on releasing the 6 GHz band to Wi-Fi slated for late 2019.
/Claus.