Wireless Technologies and the National Information Infrastructure

Citation: Office of Technology Assessment, Wireless Technologies and the National Information Infrastructure (Sept. 1995) (OTA-ITC-622).

This report examined the role that wireless technologies would play in the emerging National Information Infrastructure and identified the challenges that policymakers, regulators, and wireless service providers would face as they began to more closely integrate wireless systems with existing wireline networks.

The report provided Congress with a broad overview of the wireless technologies being developed and discusses the technical, economic, and public policy issues associated with deploying them. Potential policy options were presented to help ensure a smooth transition to an integrated wireline/wireless NII.

The report also discussed some of the technical and social implications of the widespread use of wireless technologies &mdash; paying particular attention to the profound changes that wireless systems might cause in patterns of mobility.