GERMANTOWN, Md., January 31, 2010 – Two of the biggest challenges facing the expansion of wireless broadband in this country include the disparate number of rural and remaote wireless carriers, and how to ensure that stimulus funding goes to wireless carriers.

The Wireless Internet Service Provider Directory lists 1,860 WISPs in the U.S., while another directory includes over 2,500. Notwithstanding, there exist numerous other WISPs that are simply not contained in these directories.

WASHINGTON, January 7, 2009 – The head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on Monday urged the Federal Communications Commission to take steps designed to encourage greater competition in the market for high-speed internet access.

In a Monday letter to the FCC as part of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, Assistant Secretary of Commerce Lawrence Strickling urged that “the Internet’s innovation ecosystem is built on, and thus depends upon, a communications infrastructure operating at broadband speeds, with robust bi-directional service.”

The current level of competition is not enough to spur innovation or cause increased investment in broadband, Strickling said.

WASHINGTON, December 29, 2009 – Government support of wireless technologies is going to result in wireless broadband providers getting more involved in coming up with public safety applications, according to analysis released Tuesday from Frost & Sullivan.

WASHINGTON, December 4, 2009 – A top government official focused on the need to improve the allocation of spectrum for future broadband expansion during a telecommunications conference on Thursday.

“The United States needs a comprehensive approach that expands upon proven flexible, market-oriented policies that facilitate spectrum access, wireless innovation and competition,” said FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker during a
keynote address (PDF) at the Phoenix Center’s Annual Telecom Symposium.

WASHINGTON, October 23, 2009 – Next Tuesday, October 27, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission is preparing to hold Auction 86, for the use of radio-frequencies being deployed through WiMAX technologies. The presence of two major carriers in the band – Clearwire and Sprint – makes this auction crucial for the success of WiMAX in the United States. Last week, BroadbandCensus.com began offering for sale a major report on “The ‘WiMAX Band’: Characteristics, Technology, Major Spectrum Holders in the BRS-EBS Service and Prospects for Auction 86.” BRS-EBS stands for Broadband Radio Service-Educational Broadband Service. Click here for further information about the report – including an extensive series of detailed and searchable auction tables in spreadsheets.

Strength-to-Strength Develop-Ed, LLC on Tuesday released a comprehensive report on who holds what licenses and lease rights in the “WiMAX Band” – the 2.5 GigaHertz band used by the Broadband Radio Service (BRS) and Educational Broadband Service (EBS). This band is home to WiMAX giants Clearwire and Sprint.

WASHINGTON, August 31, 2009 – Although the NTIA and RUS are expected to release the names of the applicants for broadband stimulus funding later this week, the names of many of the applicants are emerging through press releases and through reporting by a wide variety of organizations.

ASHBURN, Va., April 28, 2009 – Looks like rural WiMax provider DigitalBridge Communications has found some new friends in the rural telco business, judging by a couple of announcements today from both Digital Bridge and the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), which represents some 1,400 rural electric and telephone utilities across 48 states.

WASHINGTON, February 14, 2009 – With $7.2 billion in stimulus funds soon to be available for broadband service – and with the transition to digital television freeing huge swaths of spectrum – wireless communication could be poised for some technological advances. But defining and regulating these challenges may post unique challenges for state regulators

WASHINGTON, December 8 – Paul Kapustka of Sidecut Reports has just made his “Consumer Guide to WiMax” Available online for free.