The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed making additional unlicensed spectrum available in the 5 GHz band to facilitate public access to higher speed broadband connections.
In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued in February 2013, the Commission proposed to make available up to an additional 195 megahertz of spectrum in the 5 GHz band for so-called Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices. These devices are used for short range, high speed wireless connections, such as Wi-Fi enabled local area networks used in public places to connect smart phones, tablets and laptop computers to the broadband network.
In the same Notice, the Commission has also proposed a more streamlined equipment authorization procedure for N-III devices operating in the 5 GHz band.