By Claus Hetting, Wi-Fi NOW CEO & Chairman
Jessica Rosenworcel confirmed as new FCC Chairwoman by US Senate
On December 7 the US Senate voted to confirm Jessica Rosenworcel for another 5 year term as FCC Commissioner. In practice this means that Ms Rosenworcel formally assumes the role as FCC Chairwoman – a position designated to her by President Joe Biden in October. Ms Rosenworcel becomes the FCC’s first ever chairwoman. Jessica Rosenworcel has been the FCC’s Acting Chairwoman since the resignation of Ajit Pai in January of this year.
Jessica Rosenworcel has throughout her tenure at the FCC been a fervent advocate of Wi-Fi and unlicensed frequency allocations. She has consistently pushed for more Wi-Fi frequency allocations including being a strong supporter of former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s initiative to release the 6 GHz band to Wi-Fi last year. The Wi-Fi industry could hardly hope for a stronger Wi-Fi proponent at the head of arguably the world’s most powerful telecom regulatory body. Ms Rosenworcel has spoken at Wi-Fi NOW events on several occasions, including in 2016 and 2020.
Xfinity study says kids prefer a month of Wi-Fi over their top Christmas gift
A new study commissioned by Xfinity (Comcast) says that nearly two in five Americans prefer reliable Wi-Fi over gifts and that 64% of kids would prefer a month of Wi-Fi over their top gift this holiday season. Wakefield Research conducted the study as a survey of 1000 ‘nationally representative’ US adults age 18 and over. The study also found that 35% of adults consider Wi-Fi more important than gifts and that 64% of consumers will attend in-person gatherings this year. Read more here.
Verizon 5G Home Internet & Fios begin rollout of Wi-Fi 6E routers
According to an exclusive report by CNET, Verizon now says it is rolling out its new Wi-Fi 6E capable routers to Verizon 5G Home Internet subscribers. The new tri-band router will be made available to Verizon Fios (fibre) subscribers in early 2022. CNET says Verizon 5G Home Internet is available in 65 markets across the US with no contracts required and no data caps enforced. Its average download speed is approximately 300Mbps with a maximum of up to 940Mbps. The price for the Verizon 5G Internet service – now including the Wi-Fi 6E router – is US$70 per month.
Status on Wi-Fi 6 around the world – from Plume IQ
The latest analytics data released by Plume IQ says the USA leads Wi-Fi 6 deployments with a 64% increase in deployment over the May to October 2021 period. In comparison, European Wi-Fi 6 deployments grew by 45%, Plume IQ says. Among devices tablets lead with 106% Wi-Fi 6 growth followed by smartphones (55%) and laptops (50%). The brands driving Wi-Fi 6 growth include Samsung, Google, and Apple – with Apple delivering a massive 375% growth rate during the study period.
Will apple begin developing its own Wi-Fi chipsets?
Is Apple about to begin development of its own wireless chipsets including for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth? According to a recent news report by Bloomberg, Apple has begun looking for wireless engineers for a new office located in Southern California – but so far with only about half a dozen active vacancies, which hardly seems a serious threat to Wi-Fi giants such as Broadcom and Qualcomm. That said Bloomberg says that Apple’s interest in hiring specific resources usually spells bad news for existing providers, as chipset giant Intel would confirm. The stock value of a number of current Apple wireless technology providers fell a handful percent on the news last week. Broadcom’s current contract with Apple for – among other solutions – Wi-Fi chipsets is valued at US$15 billion and ends in 2023. For more don’t miss Bloomberg’s excellent reporting on this topic here.
/Claus.
