FCC Green-Lights White Space Access

After six years of debate—longer even than the 2008 presidential campaign—the FCC Tuesday said it would make available to the public unused TV spectrum, commonly referred to as "white spaces." The decision was made in the face of much opposition from broadcasters, certain device makers and even musicians such as Dolly Parton, who maintained that free public use of the airwaves would interfere with TV broadcasts and wireless microphones. (Last month, T-Mobile came out against the FCC's plan)

The FCC in October released a report that found the interference issue to be inconsequential, and noted that, "when factoring in actual operation under nonstatic conditions, the situation only improves."

With Tuesday's decision, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and fellow commissioners unanimously agreed with proponents of free public access, including Google and Microsoft. It is the first step toward the use of new types of unlicensed devices in the unused spectrum to provide broadband data and other services for consumers and businesses.

The FCC also noted that wireless microphones would be protected in several ways. For example, the commission has mandated that devices include the ability to listen to the airwaves to sense wireless microphones as an additional measure of protection for these devices.

One potential use that could come from the decision is neighborhood wireless zones. Carriers could provide, for example, rural broadband Internet access without incurring the huge costs of buying spectrum for a limited number of subscribers.

Roger Cochetti, group director of U.S. Public Policy for the Computing Technology Industry Association, said the FCC's ruling will soon make Internet access "appear as common and ubiquitous as air" and will work to collapse the digital divide.

"CompTIA believes this decision, so long in the making, was worth the wait," said Cochetti. "To this end, we intend to help the IT industry—especially our value-added resellers of IT—innovate new solutions that use the 'white space' spectrum to the benefit of all Americans."

The spectrum signals have much longer range than today's Wi-Fi technology, so broadband access can be spread using fewer base stations. That should result in superior coverage at lower cost.

In his blog, Larry Page, Google co-founder and president of products, referred to that as "Wi-Fi on steroids." He also praised the FCC for adopting the same successful unlicensed model used for Wi-Fi. "[That] has resulted in a projected 1 billion Wi-Fi chips being produced this year," he wrote. "Now that the FCC has set the rules, I'm sure that we'll see similar growth in products to take advantage of this spectrum.