 functions have become more critical as subscribers worldwide depend on their mobile devices when they travel for business and leisure. In the United States, the International Bureau of the FCC, the National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA), part of the Commerce Department, and the State Department work with the ITU-R. Generally, working groups comprising representatives from many countries hash out particular issues under the auspices of the ITU. Decisions on spectrum and new 4th and 5th generation protocols are made at the ITU's World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRC), held every 5 years. Geographic Licensing Schemes Because of its large size, and mountainous, sparsely populated areas, no single carrier's network provides complete geographic coverage across the entire United States. There are six regional groupings in the contiguous United States and others for regional groupings such as Alaska and Hawaii. The Gulf of Mexico also retains its own grouping. Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility cover almost all of the metropolitan areas in the United States, but not all of the rural areas. No other carrier has such extensive coverage or the financial wherewithal to purchase spectrum to cover these large areas. In the 2016 auction, www.TechnicalPDF.com T-Mobile was the major bidder. They scooped up almost the entire spectrum in the 600MHz range. This spectrum is particularly suited to fixed wireless in rural areas because of its ability to travel distances without fading. Fixed wireless is important in rural areas where it's not cost effective to lay fiber to homes miles apart from each other. See Figure 7-2 for an example of fixed wireless service. Deploying fixed wireless from telephone poles to homes is many times less costly than laying fiber in rural areas. There are fewer residences in rural areas from which mobile companies can recoup the cost of constructing fiber networks to homes. www.TechnicalPDF.com broadband Internet access. Each home is connected directly telephone company antenn