STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI
Re: Amendment of Part 101 of the Commission’s Rules to Facilitate the Use of Microwave or 
Wireless Backhaul and Other Uses and to Provide Additional Flexibility to Broadcast Auxiliary 
Service and Operational Fixed Microwave Licensees; Petition for Rulemaking filed by Fixed 
Wireless Communications Coalition to Amend Part 101 of the Commission’s Rules to Authorize 
60 and 80 MHz Channels in Certain Bands for Broadband Communications, WT Docket No. 10-
153, RM-11602
Groundhog Day officially comes in February, but August is starting to have the feel of the Bill 
Murray classic at the Commission.  For the third August open meeting in a row, we are addressing the 
issue of wireless backhaul and its important role in the broadband ecosystem.
Backhaul is the skeleton supporting broadband, and wireless backhaul is often a very efficient 
means of transmitting data among cell sites, or between cell sites and network backbones.  Spectrum, in 
other words, can be an important part of the “middle mile” of broadband networks.
Wireless backhaul is essential to broadband deployment in rural areas in particular, where it may 
be the only practical high-capacity middle mile solution available. 
Last year we modified rules to make additional spectrum available for wireless backhaul, and to 
provide additional flexibility for licensees to reduce operational costs.
The Commission’s actions today will enable even more microwave wireless backhaul 
deployment in rural areas.
Among other things, today’s item grants wireless backhaul providers the flexibility to use smaller 
antennas; updates the Commission’s efficiency standards to reflect today’s data-centric world; introduces 
a Microwave Rural Flexibility Policy; and permits higher capacity links, enabling faster data rates.
This item is a part of our Broadband Acceleration Initiative, focusing on ways to reduce barriers 
to broadband infrastructure deployment, to speed broadband build-out, and reduce costs to broadband 
providers, which can then pass those savings onto consumers. 
The item also advances the Commission’s regulatory reform agenda by removing regulatory 
barriers that today limit the use of spectrum for wireless backhaul and similar communications.  These 
changes will have a near-term positive impact.  For instance, with respect to the Microwave Rural 
Flexibility Policy, I expect that the Wireless Bureau will act on waiver applications within 90 days, absent 
extraordinary circumstances.  This item removes other regulatory barriers even sooner, with no additional 
Commission action necessary.
Finally, the item furthers the Commission’s spectrum agenda.  By allowing more intensive use of 
microwave spectrum, we can further support broadband deployment, particularly in hard-to-reach rural 
areas, and enable consumers to reap the benefits that flow from broadband adoption.
The Commission’s efforts to promote broadband and wireless backhaul do not end with this 
Order.  Rather, we will continue to evaluate our rules, and the item includes several further inquiries and 
requests for comment, which we expect will continue our efforts to reduce barriers to broadband 
deployment.
Thank you to the bureau for your work on this item.