WISPA says U.S. House Net Neutrality Bill Misses the Mark, "Light Touch" Better

The following statement may be attributed to Claude Aiken, President, The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA):

Washington, DC, March 6, 2019 - "Today the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill to reinstate the FCC’s repealed Title II Net Neutrality regulations.  WISPA is heartened by the fact that Congress has taken a renewed interest in this important matter, but we feel, as we did with the repealed regulations, that they fail to encourage the widespread deployment and adoption of Internet infrastructure, especially in under-served, rural areas of America. 

"WISPs serve nearly four million, largely rural customers in places that the very largest providers have chosen to ignore.  Our members are bridging the digital divide.  Now.  While we believe a comprehensive piece of Net Neutrality legislation is needed, it would work better with a “light touch” framework to incentivize broadband growth and uptake.  In doing so, Congress might also focus on releasing more spectrum for use by small rural companies such as our WISPs.  This act alone could quickly and cost-effectively bring high-speed broadband to millions of Americans, making a significant dent in the fact that 24 million people in the U.S. lack adequate broadband access.   

"As always, we stand ready to work with the House and Senate in a bi-partisan manner toward meeting the important goal of getting all Americans on the open Internet."

About WISPA

WISPA is a membership-driven trade association that promotes the development, advancement and unity of the fixed wireless Internet service provider industry. WISPA has over 800 members that support WISPA’s advocacy, education and other collaborative industry initiatives. For more information, visit www.wispa.org.

Contact

Mike Wendy

mwendy@wispa.org

202-763-5257