What They Say
An association of 51 companies, under the name ‘Connect Americans’ has backed the FCC’s plan to allow the use of 600MHz spectrum and TV broadcast ‘white space’ for non-broadcast applications including rural internet provision.
What We Think
I have a close relative that lives in rural America and understand the frustration of not being able to get really good internet service, but I have some sympathy with broadcasters that do not want to see interference to block their transmissions.
For those that watch these things, white space is the part of the spectrum that is not used by broadcasters, which could be geographic, to avoid interference between adjacent broadcasters, or narrow frequency bands between broadcast channels. If used carefully, it may be usable for other purposes without causing interference, so it is, effectively, free spectrum. Modern technology (e.g. software defined radios) can moniitor the spectrum and dynamically change how it is used to avoid broadcast.
(My own experience of blocking transmissions with ex-military broadcast equipment as a teenage pirate in the late ’60s are not going to get a mention 🙂 )(BR)
