STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN AJIT PAI
Re:  Amendment of Part 90 of the Commission’s Rules, WP Docket No. 07-100
In 2002, a robot vacuum, the Roomba, was introduced to American consumers.  And what was 
initially considered a novelty has since become a mainstay of the marketplace.  Today, robot vacuums 
represent 20% of the worldwide vacuum market.
Another project was launched back in 2002, as the FCC designated a 50-MHz swath of 
contiguous spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band for public safety use.  Sadly, that initiative hasn’t met with 
similar success.  According to the Commission’s licensing database, only about 3.5% of potential 
licensees have actually taken advantage of the 4.9 GHz band.  Considering the massive demand for 
mobile services, and the consequently massive demand for spectrum, preserving a lightly-used 4.9 GHz 
band isn’t an option.
That’s why today’s Sixth Further Notice is important.  Our goals are simple: To promote more 
productive use of the band, to foster the development of new technologies, and to spur investment.  We 
believe that we will unleash the potential of this band with the proposals we consider here, from 
aggregating channels into larger blocks to facilitate broadband use to opening the door to more spectrum 
sharing.
I want to thank those who worked on the item.  From the Public Safety and Homeland Security 
Bureau: Rochelle Cohen, Tom Eng, Lisa Fowlkes, David Furth, Renee Roland, Rasoul Safavian, and 
Michael Wilhelm; and Deborah Broderson and David Horowitz from the Office of General Counsel.  If 
America has the ingenuity and vision to make a success of robot vacuum cleaners, then surely with your 
help we can make a go of the 4.9 GHz band.