Tech companies win with FCC “White Spaces” approval
Posted by Jacque on November 4th, 2008
In another Election Day battle, tech companies fighting to free the “white spaces” spectrum for a sort of WiFi 2.0 won approval from the FCC.
Google, Microsoft and other tech companies led the fight. “As far as Google is concerned, it wants as many wireless networks as possible to connect to the Internet. The ‘white spaces’ is part of a bigger thrust. For instance, consider a recent Google patent to tie disparate wireless networks together through a marketplace that would let people switch networks on the fly as they moved around based on price and quality of coverage,” reports TechCrunch.
The white space spectrum operates unlicensed at powers of 100 milliwatts. Proponents of unlicensed white space use have often argued that opening up the spectrum would help bring mobile broadband to under-served regions and would help close the so-called “digital divide” between many urban and rural areas in the United States, Network World said.
Broadcasting companies and major telecom carriers argued against the change, saying it would interfere with current operations. After study, the FCC disagreed and unanimously approved unlicensed use of white spaces. Image by yesyesnono. Creative Commons license.
