FCC cancels upcoming meeting, will not vote on white space
FCC cancels upcoming meeting, will not vote on white space
The FCC has announced that it has canceled its upcoming December 18th meeting. As part of that meeting, the FCC had planned to vote on the proposed auction of portions of the white space spectrum which would be used for free, nationwide wireless broadband. The white space initiative generated a firestorm of controversy that pitted T-Mobile, the National Association of Broadcasters and celebrities like Dolly Parton, Neil Diamond, and the Dixie Chicks against technology companies such as Google, Dell, Microsoft and Motorola. With the upcoming meeting now scuttled and a vote delayed indefinitely, the white space spectrum issue is dead in the water for the time being. It will now be in the hands of the incoming Obama administration to revive the issue or let it slowly drift away.
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Once television goes digital, there is going to be some open “white space” in the air and the FCC is now deciding on how the spectrum should be used. Companies like Google and Microsoft want the space for a variety of reasons – Google mainly suggesting it be open for use by anyone (so they can get their platform onto more devices that will be using the spectrum, one would assume). Naturally, mobile carriers and device makers want the spectrum so they can expand their business and sell more products and services. But the National Association of Broadcasters aren’t too keen on that idea and have other plans of their own. Now, it’s just up to the FCC to lay out a plan for how the open spectrum should be put to use. Years of data collected and testing will be done to help the FCC make a final decision on just how the spectrum would be best used exactly. Field tests are being conducted because some companies, like T-Mobile, are saying certain uses for the spectrum would interfere with their services. Hey, as long as we can get a little bandwidth allocation for BGR, we’re happy with whatever they decide to do.
