Telecom Fights Tech Over FCC Plan to Open Airwaves to Wi-Fi

Big Tech and Big Telecom are wrangling over a federal regulatory plan that would open up an unprecedented amount of airwaves to meet the nation’s Wi-Fi demand.

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to vote before the end of April on a plan that may quintuple the amount of spectrum available to handle data from millions of Wi-Fi-connected smartphones, laptops, and other devices.

The plan, proposed in 2018, is backed by tech giants, including Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Microsoft Corp., that say the additional spectrum is critical to alleviating data traffic jams and to fostering faster internet connections and ...