[CWN-Summit] [3w] fcc votes for white space use

[Matthias Šubik]

Is it true?? (full text below)
Is this the change we waited for? 
Matthias

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-23/fcc-votes-to-open-vacant-tv-airwaves-for-4-billion-wireless-market-by-u-s.html

Vacant TV Airwaves Opened for $4 Billion Wireless Market by U.S.
By Todd Shields - Sep 23, 2010
Federal regulators cleared the way for technology companies to use vacant television channels for wireless data and Internet services that may be worth more than $4 billion a year.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 5-0 today to adopt rules for using the airwaves, known as white spaces. Microsoft Corp.,Google Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Motorola Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. are laying plans to exploit the airwaves, which exist in all U.S. cities.

“Today we open a new platform for American innovation” that will lead to billions of dollars in private investment, said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

The radio waves travel in the spectrum between television channels known as white spaces, and like TV signals they carry far and penetrate walls. Uses may include wireless Internet connections, remote monitoring of industrial systems such as power plants, and taking over some mobile-phone traffic to ease sluggishness for users of devices such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

White-space applications may generate $3.9 billion to $7.3 billion in economic value each year, according to a September 2009 study funded by Microsoft and written by Richard Thanki, a London-based analyst with Perspective Associates.

New York and Los Angeles, the nation’s two biggest media markets with multiple TV stations, may have few vacant channels for the devices, according to an FCC fact sheet. Most markets have five or more empty channels.

Users of the white-space airwaves won’t need an FCC license, leaving them free to create devices for applications yet to be developed, Genachowski said in an interview before the vote.

Broadcaster Objections

The FCC in 2008 approved white-space use over objections of television broadcasters who said their signals might be disrupted. The agency left final rules on technical standards for later, and these are the matters that came to a vote today.

The FCC also was to vote on easing rules for schools and libraries to use federal funds for high-speed Internet connections. Schools and libraries could use the funds to connect to networks or to fiber that has been installed nearby and is ready to carry Internet service, Genachowski said in a Sept. 21 speech.

AT&T Inc. opposed the proposal, saying Congress intended subsidies to spent on communications providers and not directly on fiber.

To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3 at bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert at bloomberg.net.