FCC approves 'white spaces' for rural broadband

Rural broadband access might expand and get a whole lot cheaper, at least in flat country, thanks to a unanimous Federal Communications Commission decision yesterday. It authorized the use of unlicensed used of "white spaces" between frequencies that will be no longer be used after the switch to digital television in February 2009. Supporters say that will provide more powerful wireless service, and allow for the creation of broadband networks in areas previously considered not cost-effective.

Broadcasters have been critical of the proposal, saying it will disrupt wireless transmissions. The Kentucky Broadcasters Association issued a statement this morning, saying “Yesterday the FCC struck a serious blow to the right of every resident in our country to continue to receive interference-free, local television, by authorizing manufacturers from all over the world to flood the United States with millions and millions of unlicensed, portable devices that will occupy the television band thereby causing harmful interference." But Wendy Davis of MediaPost writes that the FCC "said that it will require new devices to have geolocation and database access capabilities, or alternatively, spectrum-sensing capabilities, in order to prevent interference." (Read more)

White spaces will not solve all of the problems of rural acces. Benjamin Lennett noted in a June 2008 article for The Center for Rural Strategies that while "some of these wireless signals can travel up to 60 miles with point-to-point directional antennas, they generally work well only over very short distances or with a line of sight connection, making them vulnerable to physical obstructions such as dense foliage and hilly terrain." As a result, they may not be beneficial to areas like Appalachia. (Read more)