[RTC List] FCC Votes to Open the Whitespaces to Internet Traffic

[Tina Nerat]

See: http://gigaom.com/2008/11/04/google-wins-big-at-fcc-today/

 

Today the Federal Communications Commission opened up the wireless
communications market with its approval of a plan to allow independent
devices to operate
<http://gigaom.com/2008/03/24/googles-white-space-proposal/>  in the
spectrum between digital TV channels. It also approved the merger
<http://gigaom.com/2008/03/25/cablecos-join-the-3-billion-us-wimax-rescue-ac
t/>  of spectrum between Sprint and Clearwire that will create a nationwide
WiMAX network. During that same meeting, it threw the existing operators a
bone, and approved Verizon
<http://gigaom.com/2008/06/05/confirmed-verizon-wants-alltel/> 's $28.1
billion deal to buy Alltel. This creates two new wireless networks backed,
in part, by Google.

But first the Alltel deal, which held up the commission for four hours
debating concessions. Once that deal closes, Verizon will be the largest
wireless carrier in the U.S. with more than 80 million subscribers. Verizon
will have to divest 100 markets in 22 states as part of a deal with the
Department of Justice and the FCC, but the merger between Verizon Wireless
and Alltel consolidates more power in the hands of the largest wireless
players. It will likely lead to greater expenses for businesses as many of
the roaming agreements between Alltel and other large carriers come up for
negotiation.

Michael Voellinger, SVP of enterprise mobility at Telwares, estimates that
as Verizon has to negotiate those roaming contracts with AT&T, T-Mobile and
Sprint, it's likely to end up with higher rates, leading to the potential
for higher costs for enterprise (and consumer) customers of
telecommunications services. However, as part of its approval, the FCC
requires Verizon to keep roaming rates the same for the next four years.

The approval for allowing broadband-enabled devices to operate in the white
spaces between the digital television spectrum
<http://gigaom.com/2008/09/24/the-devil-is-in-the-details-in-white-space-deb
ate/>  was a bit more nuanced. The acceptance of the white spaces broadband
is significant, but the FCC will impose a certification process and limits
on the "loudness" of wireless devices operating in that spectrum for the
time being. That means those gadgets may be hard to deploy quickly and in
urban areas. That could drive up costs associated with such devices by
lengthening time to market and limiting the market share.

Still, it's a big win for for the large technology companies such as Google,
Dell, Motorola and Microsoft, whcih have all backed white spaces. With the
cable companies and Google also getting a win through their involvement in
the Clearwire merger, it remains to be seen if the consumer will win, but
Google certainly has.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://redwoodtech.org/pipermail/list_redwoodtech.org/attachments/20081104/d4a5098c/attachment.html>