Two weeks ago, the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance convened its seventh annual Global Summit in Washington, DC with tech and telecom industry leaders and regulators from around the world. I was honored to preside over my first Summit as President of DSA and I am humbled and excited by the progress our members and policymakers are making worldwide to connect the next four billion people and build a next-generation network ecosystem.

Through panels and fireside chats, presenters covered cutting-edge airwaves issues from UHF bands to mmWaves and discussed about technologies like TV White Spaces, IoT, 5G and Wi-Fi 6. We hosted a TVWS workshop and a regulators-only workshop that drew policymakers committed to sharing their experiences and learning from the other participants about spectrum sharing and dynamic access to spectrum to make the most efficient use of their country’s airwaves. The final day of the event brought together speakers from the private sector, non-profit organizations and public sector to continue these conversations.

We couldn’t say it better than our panelists and speakers themselves, so please enjoy some of their remarks below and we look forward to seeing you next year!

On Unlicensed Spectrum

  • “We need more unlicensed spectrum and I’m working hard to make that happen.” – FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly
  • “72% of the traffic on your phone is going to be managed by unlicensed communications. So we really have to pay attention to unlicensed.” – Mary Brown, Director, Government Affairs, Cisco Systems
  • “Unlicensed spectrum is really the “water” for connectivity in a lot of upcoming markets.” – Dan Rabinovitsj, Vice President, Facebook

On 6 GHz

  • “We can push the envelope. I think there’s much more opportunity for unlicensed use in 6 GHz…and the concerns raised can be mitigated. My goal is to get to a conclusion as soon as possible.” – FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly
  • “Wi-Fi 6 is a ‘Ferrari’ running in this old spectrum. What we really want to do is get it out on the freeway of 6 GHz.” – Mary Brown, Director, Government Affairs, Cisco Systems
  • “Good technical conversations between proponents and incumbents are the right approach.” – Michael Ha, Chief, Policy and Rules Division, Office of Engineering and Technology, FCC
  • “This isn’t something that’s going to take a generation to build up; this is something we can put into productive use right away. We’re hopeful that you could have Wi-Fi 6 in 6 GHz in Europe before Christmas 2020… [And] we’re very, very hopeful that the FCC could also reach a point where we could see Wi-Fi 6 in 6 GHz deployed in 2020.” – Chris Szymanski, Director, Product Marketing & Government Affairs, Broadcom
  • “What you’re going to see is a whole ecosystem of devices that are built around high throughput, low latency, and we think that that’s going to happen with 6 GHz… You’re going to have an even higher level of reliability that people will depend on to provide various real-time services” – Chris Szymanski, Director, Product Marketing & Government Affairs, Broadcom

On CBRS

  • “CBRS success is the result of unprecedented collaboration between all of these government entities, industries and standards bodies.” – Dave Wright, Director, Regulatory Affairs & Network Standards, Ruckus Networks

On C-Band

  • “To say that this is the most complex spectrum topic we’ve ever seen is an understatement.” – Jaime Fink, VP of Technology, Fixed Wireless at Airspan Networks CTO & Co-Founder, Mimosa Networks
  • On splitting the band (rather than clearing it): “It’s a win-win-win.” – Jaime Fink, VP of Technology, Fixed Wireless at Airspan Networks CTO & Co-Founder, Mimosa Networks
  • “This 500 MHz is grossly underutilized. There are 1,500 earth stations; this may sound like a lot, but this means that more than 90% of the spectrum capacity in the band is fallow.” – Michael Calabrese, Director, Wireless Future Project, New America
  • “These are four foreign-owned satellite companies that want to make money on spectrum that they never paid for. There should be a public auction.” – Michael Calabrese, Director, Wireless Future Project, New America

On the Digital Divide

  • “It’s our job to make spectrum abundant for broadband. We need to connect the next four billion people, stimulate wireless innovation for next-generation broadband, and accelerate an inclusive digital economy.” – That was me!
  • “Connectivity allows women to have access to financial services, healthcare, education, jobs. It’s such a powerful tool and we have to focus on how to improve it. Every woman should have that opportunity.” – Heather Lanigan, Regional Director, Sub-Saharan Africa, USTDA
  • “Access that is not affordable, inclusive and safe is not access at all.” – Clara Barnett, Governance & Digital Inclusion Adviser, Emerging Policy, Innovation & Capability (EPIC), UK Department for International Development (DFID)