UPDATED 11:46 EDT / DECEMBER 01 2010

FCC Votes to Break Open Under-Utilized Television Spectrum for Internet, Mobile

radio_tower In a 5-0 vote yesterday the Federal Communications Commission made notice of a proposed policy that will lead the way to opening up the broadcast TV spectrum. With the advent of digital TV, much of what analog television broadcasts took up in spectrum is now easier to reach. This decision comes in a long chain of recent FCC decisions governing wireless communication regulations such as regulations on white-space usage and other elements of the spectrum.

GigaOM has the story, which covers some of the thinking behind the proposed policy changes,

Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said the rulemaking was necessary to head off a spectrum crunch that could stifle innovation in the U.S. The FCC also moved in September to establish rules on the unlicensed use of whites spaces, the under-utilized TV spectrum some believe can lead to Super Wi-Fi. The latest rules would lay down the framework for auctions that could raise $120 billion, although Congress will still need to approve any such auctions. The rules lay out several provisions:

  • The spectrum in the TV bands will be open to fixed, mobile and broadcast services
  • Two or more broadcasters can share a single 6 MHz channel
  • The limits on the power of VHF stations would be raised

The FCC also approved another notice of proposed rulemaking for expanded use of experimental spectrum licenses. The rules would allow universities, national laboratories, medical centers and others to experiment with spectrum with more freedom. Also, the FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry on ways to promote more intensive spectrum-sharing techniques. CTIA, the wireless industry’s association, praised the decision, calling it, “an important step to ensuring that we can meet America’s growing demand for mobile Internet access at anytime and anywhere.”

The release of much of this spectrum comes with hopes that it will lead to Super Wi-Fi, enabling better reach of broadband to even extremely rural areas. This could be especially important with the status of US broadband falling steadily behind advances across the rest of the world.

We have previously seen Google and Microsoft already testing white-space for use as Wi-Fi in hospitals and other rural areas waiting for this decision to come down the pipes. Expanded use of experimental spectrum licenses will go an extremely long way for permitting universities and smaller shops to develop products that take advantage of the portions of this resource being opened up.

Studies show that wireless communications already make up a rapidly accelerating data usage medium and it is only expected to increase over the next few decades. Already a 700 per-cent increase in mobile data usage is expected over the next five years, which would certainly not be handled by existing networks, even expected experimental LTE and 4G networks won’t cut that cake. Thus, it’ll be important to open up as much unused spectrum as possible and let innovators into that space to start putting it to use; but at the same time the FCC will have to keep an eye out for the best innovators—not just those with the deepest pockets—because if they let big corporations lock down sections of the spectrum and they fail to do anything worthwhile with them we’ll be in a similar boat to now ten years down the road.

In order to do this, and combat powerful lobbies from communication corporations, the FCC may want to develop stead holder policies for portions of bandwidth auctioned off now. While companies now may leverage their big bucks to grab up bits of the spectrum, leaving crumbs for the rest of the industry to pick from, if any of these big winners sits on their laurels while others are actually developing the portion that they got they should face the potential of losing it (or at least seeing themselves forced to lease it to a competitor.)


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