Increasing the amount of unlicensed spectrum available for...

Increasing the amount of unlicensed spectrum available for Wi-Fi use is “a major policy objective” for Comcast, said Executive Director-Regulatory and Public Affairs David Don at the Institute for Policy Innovation’s Communications Policy Summit Tuesday. Calling Wi-Fi “the last bottleneck,” Don said Comcast is investing millions of dollars in wireless connectivity. A 200,000-hotspot network built by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Cablevision and Cox Communications could soon be at 500,000 or even over a million hotspots, he said. Don said moving the country to a next generation Wi-Fi standard that will allow gigabit speeds “needs to be a focus” for the communications industry. Though Don acknowledged there are no applications that would make full use of those high speeds, he said as more devices in homes make use of Wi-Fi connectivity, the higher speeds will be needed to accommodate the increased traffic. Regulators and others are becoming open to the necessity of freeing up unlicensed spectrum, Don said. “Folks are starting to come around in this town to the idea that we need a balanced spectrum policy.”