The goal of the workshops will be to promote an open dialogue between the FCC and key constituents on matters important to the National Broadband Plan. Key constituents will include service providers, equipment providers, applications providers, community groups, and other groups that have a stake in the future of broadband. Workshops will consist of meetings held at the FCC. The public will have the opportunity to suggest meeting topics and questions for the workshops. All meetings will be broadcast over the Internet when possible, and archived for viewing at a later time to ensure that everyone has access to the content.

The goal of this workshop is to explore how the wireless technologies will evolve to address the demands for broadband access. The workshop will address two distinct groups of users: mobile and rural.

The mobile use of wireless devices is quickly migrating from making voice calls to accessing internet and being “always on”. The increasing demand for access to broadband data on the move is creating many challenges. This session will consider how the currently planned 3G, 4G, and WiMax technologies will handle these challenges? Where to find additional spectrum to meet the new demands? What if the most desirable spectrum is not available? What role will the techniques that rely on opportunistic spectrum sharing play in the future? Will cognitive radio and software defined radios play a role in improving spectrum usage? What role service providers who rely on unlicensed spectrum play in providing broadband access? Can technologies allow licensed, unlicensed and satellite operators to offer a transparent service? What role will architectures based on femtocells or similar technologies play in the future delivery of broadband over wireless? What network and spectrum management techniques may be necessary to ensure efficient use of the spectrum? Are there potential techniques currently being researched that seem promising for future improvement in spectrum use?

The second session will focus on the opportunity for the use of wireless technologies to address the broadband needs of rural users. Given that several technologies have limitations in serving rural users, are there unique technologies for deployment in rural areas? Can the technology solutions for rural applications keep pace with urban development? Is the access speed “divide” likely to grow between urban and rural users or are there technology solutions to address the growth? What role different technologies – wireless, satellite, Broadband over Powerline, rural cable, wireline, and fiber play? Are there innovative proposals for combining these approaches? What are the limitations imposed by “long” last mile in many rural networks? How does wireless technology evolve to address the rural “middle mile” access? What role will unlicensed technology based solutions play in addressing rural needs? What future technology evolution may improve this situation? Are there unique solutions for very low density rural (like tribal lands) areas?