Microsoft recently unveiled its plan to close the rural-urban broadband gap with “Airband,” a technology that delivers broadband through empty radiofrequency. Airband will bring internet service to rural communities in six different states, a move widely seen as the first major investment in TV white space broadband.

Recently, the economic disparity of the urban-rural divide has garnered substantial attention, especially as it relates to Internet and technological expansion. Rural economies suffer from a lack of Internet connectivity relative to urban areas, with rural adults being 10 percent less likely to have broadband or smartphones than urban adults.

Net neutrality activists claim that repealing Title II regulatory expansion will place your internet access in the hands of monopolistic telecom giants. Allegedly, uncompetitive internet service providers (ISPs) will raise rates, provide miserable service, and arbitrarily choose which websites you access. These concerns stem from alleged reports that ISPs face little competition for broadband services, citing that 48% of Americans living in an area with only one broadband provider of FCC standard high speed internet.

This Thursday, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously voted in favor of the Mobile Now Act, a bipartisan effort introduced by Senator John Thune, which would open up large amounts of broadband spectrum, currently being used by the government, to commercial and unlicensed use. Proposals like the Mobile Now are exactly the steps the nation should be taking in encouraging rapid innovation in the broadband marketplace.

In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama earlier this year, a provision was made for a “national broadband deployment strategy” to increase the penetration of high speed internet throughout the country.  To explore their options, the FCC has begun a review of the current broadband policies.  Many have used comparisons between the United States and other nations as a reference for new broadband polices.  Not surprisingly, these advocates suggest that to remain in international competition, a greater degree of government intervention is required; however, upon further analysis, America has one of the strongest bases of independent internet stability worldwide.  The FCC would be wise to avoid aggressive new regulatory policies toward broadband deployment.