18 June 2018: The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance (DSA) today announced that Amazon has become its newest charter member, joining other industry leaders Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Nominet and Adaptrum.
Amazon’s membership follows its commissioning and publishing of a report which found that greater digital adoption in rural areas could add more than £12 billion annually in gross value – equivalent to an increase of between four and eight per cent – to the UK’s rural economy. The report was welcomed by Rt Hon Michael Gove MP who reiterated the potential the internet has in ensuring the countryside flourishes by combining environment preservation with economic dynamism.
Brian Huseman, VP of Public Policy at Amazon, said the company now hopes its work with the DSA will allow it to continue creating technologies Amazon customers love.
“Our products and services are smarter, faster and more convenient because we have access to unlicensed wireless spectrum,” Huseman said. “Access to spectrum is essential for the creation and growth of ground breaking, consumer-focused technologies and we look forward to working with the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance to ensure we maintain it.”
Amazon’s Unlocking the digital potential of rural areas across the UK report, published in March 2018, is part of a series of initiatives launched by the company. Last year, it held an Amazon Academy at the Rural Entrepreneur Show, helping rural small and medium enterprises (SMEs) boost their revenue, productivity and exports through e-commerce.
This fits in with one of the DSA’s key goals of increasing the use of dynamic spectrum sharing regulatory regimes to enable a new generation of SMEs and increase output for key sectors such as agriculture.
“We are thrilled to welcome Amazon as a charter member of the DSA, in what is a significant moment in the history of the Alliance,” said Kalpak Gude, President of the DSA. “As a membership, we are continually growing and looking for organisations who share our core goals and mission and Amazon’s work in this area fits perfectly with our vision. We are confident that having Amazon join the Alliance will help us achieve our goals of bringing broadband connectivity to the unconnected and encouraging more efficient use of spectrum through unlicensed and shared spectrum policies.”
For further information about the DSA, please visit www.dynamicspectrumalliance.org/. Companies interested in joining the DSA should visit the membership page, which provides a membership level breakdown and further detail on how to become a member.