FCC Opens New Airwaves to the Public
Regulators, siding with techs like Google and Microsoft, rule that "white space" freed up by digital TV is best used for high-speed wireless hot spots
While the country was picking its next President on Nov. 4, the Federal Communications Commission federal communications commission was making its own momentous decision. The country's top communications regulator unanimously voted to free up the biggest ever swath of airwaves to be used by the public for cheap high-speed wireless Internet access.
The vote came after more than six years of public scrutiny and decides the fate of airwaves that will be made available when television broadcasts switch over to digital signals from analog in February. A broad coalition of opponents, including lawmakers, musicians, and broadcasters, argued that free public use of the airwaves would interfere with TV broadcasts and wireless microphones. ...
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and fellow commissioners unanimously sided with tech giants Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Dell (DELL), and Philips Electronics North America (PHG) in ruling that Americans would be better served if the spectrum were made available for free public use. ...
Whole-Neighborhood Hotspots
The new airwaves, known as white spaces, could be used to create wireless hot spots akin to those created by Wi-Fi technology that let users communicate wirelessly within homes and throughout neighborhoods. But unlike Wi-Fi zones, these airwaves will enable faster downloads of large data files, such as video clips and feature-length films, over larger distances and at a lower cost. ...
The spectrum's ability to transmit data and calls at long distances and through walls would allow cheap community broadband networks to cover city neighborhoods and even entire towns, bypassing and creating added competition with traditional providers of telecommunication services, such as Comcast (CMCSA), Verizon Communications (VZ), and AT&T (T). Motorola expects to cover 15 square miles with one access point using this spectrum and WiMax-like technology, which is currently used only on licensed spectrum. The setup would allow a new breed of carrier to rise up and provide wireless broadband in rural areas without having to dole out millions of dollars on spectrum. Motorola hopes to have new gear that works in white spaces within a year.
... Opponents will try to reverse the FCC's decision once the new President comes into power. ...
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