The Hill

Spectrum ‘white spaces’ promise wireless bonanza

February 27, 2008

In recent weeks, the Federal Communications Commission moved forward with tests on devices that could revolutionize the way we communicate. They’re one step closer to approving cutting-edge, wireless-Internet devices that would work virtually anywhere — from remote rural areas to underserved urban enclaves.

These next-generation gadgets would make use of unused spectrum, or so-called white spaces, between broadcast channels when the transition from analog to digital television is complete next year. With the capacity to transmit data over longer distances using less power, this prime spectrum, now reserved for television broadcasting, could support a wide range of innovative wireless devices and services that aren’t useable in other frequencies.

Today, the vast majority of high-quality television broadcast spectrum — as much as 75 percent in some media markets — is wasted. Just think of how many channels between two and 51 don’t have broadcasts when you’re flipping through them with a remote. These white spaces hold the key to making a truly wireless broadband Internet network a reality. With that network, the sky’s the limit for the future of wireless communication, information sharing and American economic competitiveness.

There is a clear and pressing need for a more flexible, reliable and available wireless broadband access in the United States. It is an inescapable reality that too many Americans still remain without Internet access. Too many students in rural schools still cannot access the greatest teaching resource in history. And too often, our first responders lack the resources and tools necessary to respond and communicate seamlessly and reliably during an emergency. Letting innovators of America utilize a wasted commodity to create such a network just makes common sense.

The FCC is in the process of testing prototype devices that operate in white spaces to ensure they are ready for commercialization. The devices use technologies capable of sensing and avoiding wireless microphone signals as well as television signals that are 1,000 times less powerful than the signal needed by a television set to display a picture. They also avoid transmitting on channels used by digital-television stations.

Several leading innovators, including Philips, Motorola, Microsoft and Adaptrum have embraced the promise of white spaces and submitted devices for testing. The FCC is putting put them through two rounds of rigorous tests and a variety of devices have demonstrated that white-spaces technologies can detect and protect wireless microphones and television signals.

The testing process is a long road. But it’s been well traveled by the FCC, which has unlocked the same promise in other spectrum-based technologies that operate over power lines and ultra-wideband. In the current round of testing, it’s promising that the FCC has moved forward with an aggressive schedule and has agreed to coordinate with product innovators to ensure that devices are working properly throughout the testing process.

The focus of the white space discussion centers on the government’s responsibility to promote creativity, and when necessary, provide an appropriate regulatory framework for innovation. The importance of broadcast television is not at issue here. Many of the companies developing devices that operate in white spaces also depend on the continued viability of broadcast television.

The FCC’s role is not to pick winners and losers at the outset. Its job is to promote what’s in the public interest, like it did in the 1940s when it allowed the first television networks to use high quality broadcast spectrum. Recognizing that the success of television was in the public’s best interest, the federal government, with the appropriate oversight and regulation, allowed the first networks to use high quality public spectrum to broadcast around the country. Now, more than a half-century later, that same spectrum holds the key to unlocking the potential of another emerging technology.

Broadcast spectrum is one of our most valuable public resources. Unused frequencies in this prime spectrum could be the single greatest untapped resource for technical innovation available. With the FCC’s guidance, we can maximize the full economic and educational potential of television white spaces by approving devices that operate in them safely and effectively.

U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) serves on the House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet and has backed measures that would require the FCC to complete testing of white spaces devices in a timely manner.