US senators warn FCC not to harm utility operations in pursuit of better WiFi

摘要

A bipartisan group of US senators told the Federal CommunicationsCommission that it would be “bad policy” to move forward with arulemaking promoting wireless development before “rigorous testing”is conducted to assure the protection of utilities’ ability to manage gridreliability and resilience.At issue is a pending proposal before the FCC that would allowunlicensed use of the wireless airwaves that house utilities’communications networks. The proceeding is part of the FCC'sbroader objective to ensure there is adequate spectrum — the invisibleinfrastructure needed for wireless services — to accommodate theproliferation of connected, wireless devices often referred to as theinternet of things.