The CTIA is aligning with television broadcasters, and urging FCC to license — and auction — TV white spaces, reports RCR Wireless News.
The Cellular trade group floated the idea shortly after Google offered a compromise proposal to unleash propagation-friendly TV white spaces for unlicensed wireless broadband access. Google’s proposal relies on a Motorola technology that combines geo-location and beacons.
The cellular association added that the FCC could still reserve a small portion of unused TV frequencies for possible unlicensed use, subject to the outcome of ongoing government testing.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin last year told the Senate Commerce Committee that freeing up white spaces on an unlicensed basis would be far less complicated than licensing the idle frequencies.
Google’s “white spaces” plan would provide (unlicensed) wireless Internet access to the entire U.S. (pdf). Google’s proposal utilizes unused television channels. Anyone could use them. Broadcasters say it would interfere with television broadcasts.
Google and other technology companies including Intel, Philips and Microsoft have pressed the FCC to open up the unused TV airwaves for unlicensed use in hopes of enabling more widespread, affordable Internet access.
In the analog television era, adjoining stations interfered with each other. In the digital era, DTV stations can have hundred thousand watt DTV transmitters on adjacent channels. Digital transmission allows interference-free reception and cleanly separates signals on adjacent channels.
This has freed up more unused television channels — “white spaces”. The top part of the dial — from UHF Channel 52-69 was just auctioned off by the FCC for nearly $20 billion dollars.
But the bottom part of the television dial is now a largely unused resource. Soon, more 6MHz channels will be available. Broadcasters, who paid the government zero to get their channels, now complain that a 1 watt (fixed) or 100 mW (mobile) radio will cause grievous harm to consumers if it occupies an unused channel.
Strangely, the NAB doesn’t complain about adjoining million watt DTV television transmitters. The NAB conveniently lists 70 lawmakers that support their lobbying efforts.
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