White Spaces and the Future of Broadband
In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) are asking the FCC to prioritize actions on broadband white space while adhering to the scheduled Broadband Action Agenda. The National Broadband Plan consist of a total of 360 recommendations, the broadband white space issue is one of these many recommendations.
In November 2008, the FCC unanimously agreed to open up unused broadcast TV spectrum for unlicensed use. This decision opened the door for “utilizing these airwaves for broadband services to allow for unlicensed technologies and new innovations in that space”, as stated by then FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.
Using white spaces with their relatively low frequency in the UHF band of a few hundred megahertz means the propagation characteristics will allow for sufficient range, through-put and in-building penetration. White Spaces are in fact unused television channels or frequencies allocated to broadcasting services but not used locally. Since these are unused frequencies there will be a lot more of this spectrum available in less-populated areas than in urban settings. This is not a bad fact considering the underserved population in these areas and the cost required to implement broadband to smaller less populated areas.
What stands in the way are wireless microphones. This is hard to believe but true. Wireless mics come in many different forms and work in many different frequency bands including UHF T.V. channels which are protected devices under the FCC part 74 rules.
One proposed solution is to have new white space devices sense the presence of energy and avoid channels where the energy exist. Because of the multiple problems that exist with this technology most vendors who manufacture these devices wont begin production on the new white space devises if they will be required to implement this technology. Another possible solution, which is in fact required under the FCC rules, is a data base of licensed users for this broadband spectrum. The FCC recently issued regulations that have banned all wireless microphones unlicensed (previously and presently) under the FCC part 74 rules. This would indicate that the solution the FCC will pursue is the one in which white spaces will be a significant part of the broadband of the future.
Related posts:
- Free Broadband In The Future?
- LightSquared And Broadbands Future
- FCC Poised to Approve White Space Broadband
