Wireless For America is trying to get broadband spectrum increased, which the FCC has approved (as did the Obama and Bush Admins). But Senator Chuck Grassley (R- Iowa) is standing on the neck of innovation, choking off any chance of improving America's patheticly low rankings for broadband access.
The US is #15 in Broadband penetration and a pathetic 26th in Broadband speed -- behind Romania, that noted hotbed of innovation. This isn't an accident. Bad service and limited access are very much in the interest of Big Telecom. Underserved neighborhoods in rural and urban areas have broadband access issues, jobs that would be created by growing small telecoms are being stopped by Grassley, Tom Petri (R-Wisconsin) and their buddies, and the rest of us are paying more for crappier service, which is the point of telecom monopoly.
Grassley is in the pocket of the big GPS providers Trimble and John Deere who claim that innovation in the spectrum will distort their signals. Their claims are crap as this letter from FCC chair Julius Genachowski shows (pdf).
Here's more fromthe National Journal:
President Obama’s past investment in a LightSquared predecessor has become fodder for Republicans in the media and on Capitol Hill. ...
Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who have both received thousands of dollars from groups with GPS ties, have taken the FCC to task for its handling of the LightSquared process.
Don't let the GOP politicize this issue in the interests of their wealthy donors. Write congress today in support of better broadband.