Airwaves now being used for wireless services may also now be used for offering internet services without government licensing, the Federal Communications Commission ruled. This decision came after opposition by wireless providers such as T-Mobile USA (which has spent $4.2 billion in lobbying efforts in 2006), contending that allowing internet on the "wireless spectrum" without operating licenses would cause problems in their services. The FCC decided that thre is no such interference. This spectrum, also known as "the white space", exist "between TV channels as buffers to ensure that TV channels don't interfere with each other. (http://tech.yahoo.com)" The use of these airwaves will start in February when the mandate for Digital TV transition comes into effect. Major companies such as Google and Microsoft had been behind efforts to convince the FCC to allow such use of airwaves.
Whether this was a good decision by the FCC or not is beyond me. But "lobbying" is a flagged word to me. Whenever I hear it, I grow ten times more skeptical. Political favors do not necesarily translate into good policies. Airwaves have been considered a public domain by the government and as such assumed responsibility for regulating it. The FCC should stay to its core goals of policing traffic on the air objectively and not wield its power to please the individuals and groups with the most lobbying money.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://tech.yahoo.com/news/cnet/20081011/tc_cnet/8301103531006386694
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