New Alliance, Same White Spaces
Dec 13, 2007
Members of the White Spaces Coalition have joined forces with a number of associations and organizations, including CompTIA, TechNet, Public Knowledge and New America Foundation, to form a new group called the Wireless Innovation Alliance (WIA). Together, alliance members will continue the push for Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval to utilize unused portions of television spectrum -- aka the white spaces -- to deliver wireless broadband services.
In a press release about the Coalition, New America Foundation VP Michael Calabrese (who will be speaking at Tech Policy Summit in March) called white space devices "the building blocks of a 21st century communications infrastructure."
Thus far, Philips Electronics, Microsoft and Google have tested prototype devices in hopes of getting the FCC's okay. But white space opponents such as the National Association of Broadcasters argue that such devices would interfere with existing transmissions. According to TMCnet, the FCC is expected to announce results of its testing by July and a final decision could follow a few months later.
Until then, expect to hear more from WIA as they make their case for the white spaces.
Tags:
broadband, FCC, white spaces
