The National Association of Broadcasters has dropped its opposition to the FCC’s “white spaces” proposal. White spaces make use of unused broadcast spectrum to enable what has been described as “Wi-Fi on steroids.”
The NAB had serious concerns about white spaces causing interference with adjacent TV broadcasts. It withdrew its objections saying the FCC has addressed these concerns.
The technology has been moving forward in spite of NAB’s concerns. The FCC gave its approval in 2008 and approved a device last year for Wilmington, NC.
According to Ars Technica: “Now the remaining obstacles to widespread adoption of white spaces technology are mostly technical. Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge told us that supporters of the technology are working on building the databases needed to track which television channels are available for use at any particular time and location. He said the databases are being set up on a ‘market-by-market basis. When they hit a critical mass of markets, or can accommodate multiple markets, this technology will take off much more strongly.'”
With the NAB’s objections now ended, the technology may finally get traction to widespread use. Will white spaces become a cheap alternative to cellular networks?
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