FCC opens up unused TV signals for broadband

Graeme Gibson could hardly contain his glee at what Washington regulators decided Thursday about technology that could soon pave another wireless path for the Internet.
“It gives us the opportunity, finally, to get through trees,” said Gibson, the president of Independence-based Computers & Tele-Comm Inc.
His company already uses one spectrum of radio waves to deliver WiMax broadband Internet service to 450 businesses in the Kansas City area.
On Thursday, the five-member Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to open unused airwaves between television channels for data traffic that can reach farther than today’s Wi-Fi hot spots.
Gibson is eager to step into the spectrum and offer residential consumers a less expensive broadband service and to reach Internet-starved rural areas.
“This is the largest chunk of wireless spectrum released in the last 25 years,” Gibson said. “It should be better for everyone.”
The FCC’s decision allows the use of “white spaces” in the broadcast TV spectrum to deliver broadband connections that can function like titanic Wi-Fi networks. The agency is calling the new technology “super Wi-Fi” and hopes to see devices with the technology start to appear within a year.
Most of the hardware needed to take advantage of the new spectrum has yet to be manufactured.
The spectrum white space came open when TV stations switched from analog to digital signals over the last several years. The old-style analog signal took up far more space and needed broad buffers in the spectrum to stop one station’s signal from bleeding into another’s.
Not only are digital signals more efficient uses of that spectrum, but fast-advancing technology allows for more precise tuning. So a transmission of “Wheel of Fortune” isn’t likely to interfere with a broadcast of a Chiefs game.
For cell phone carriers such as Overland Park-based Sprint Nextel, the FCC ruling offers the hope of boosting broadband service at far smaller investments than the industry now needs. The installation of “super Wi-Fi” hot spots would allow wireless carriers to route more traffic off their cell towers and quickly give wider high-speed service to customers surfing the Internet on the newly freed-up spectrum.
AT&T is already using a similar technique. It has deployed more than 23,000 hot spots. That means its smart-phone users can sometimes move huge amounts of data at fast speeds without incurring charges on their monthly plans. It also frees up more bandwidth for other users who would otherwise be sharing cell tower signals with those customers.
But the existing Wi-Fi frequency that AT&T and others are using has limitations. Those hot spots have a range of about 1,250 feet in the open air, and a laptop computer’s weaker transmitter may barely reach 600 feet. What’s more, walls, trees and people reduce that range by about 200 feet for every obstruction. That’s why a Wi-Fi router in your basement might not deliver much of a signal to your bedroom.
The newly opened spectrum, like TV signals, has a far greater range and isn’t weakened much by walls and such.
Although Thursday’s decision gives cell carriers new express lanes in the increasingly congested byways used for mobile Internet traffic, the ruling also could mitigate an advantage enjoyed by Sprint with its industry-leading WiMax 4G network.
Currently, Sprint is the only cell company in the United States with service that offers — at least in select markets — broadband signals that rival the speed of many landline connections.
Opening this spectrum offers another way to speed data to smart phones and laptops — perhaps meaning Sprint’s competitors could catch up more quickly.
A Sprint spokeswoman said the company was happy that the FCC decision would allow a less expensive way to improve its network infrastructure, what the industry refers to as backhaul. She said the change would not threaten the carrier’s 4G advantage.
“The Wi-Fi-on-steroids thing is not a concern to us,” said Crystal Davis, a Sprint spokeswoman in Washington.
Sprint gets its 4G service from Clearwire Corp., in which it is the majority investor. Clearwire said it backed the FCC decision.
“The unlicensed white-space spectrum decision offers a chance to provide consumers with new services,” company spokesman Chris Comes said in a prepared statement. “Much as Wi-Fi complements existing 3G (third-generation) cell networks, proper usage of white-space spectrum could do the same for 4G networks.”
The firm said, though, that it didn’t think the opening of new data expressways would erase the advantage it has in selling service through Sprint and cable companies and under its Clear brand.
“We remain confident in the unique value of Clearwire’s 4G network,” the statement said. “We believe that our spectrum holdings, network assets and strategic investors place us in the best position for success.”
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said white-space networks would serve as “a powerful platform for innovation,” driving billions of dollars in industry investment.
Leading technology companies, including Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Dell Inc., are eager to develop the market. They say television white spaces are ideally suited for broadband because they are able to penetrate walls, have plenty of capacity and can travel several miles.
Just like the spectrum used by Wi-Fi, white spaces will be available to all users to transmit on for free, with no license required. The FCC hopes they will help ease strain on the nation’s increasingly crowded airwaves as more consumers go online using laptops and data-hungry smart phones.
Computer maker Dell, for one, envisions white-space networks that will be able to send streaming video and other multimedia content to electronic devices around the home, deliver broadband to rural areas that now lack high-speed Internet access and create “large-scale hot spots.”
Although the FCC first voted to allow the use of white spaces for broadband nearly two years ago, the plan ran into serious opposition from television broadcasters worried about interference with their over-the-air signals. Wireless microphone manufacturers and users — including churches, theaters, karaoke bars and all types of performers — raised similar concerns.
Thursday’s vote mandates the creation of a database with a map of TV channels across the country as well as big wireless microphone users, such as Broadway theaters and sports leagues. White-space networks and devices would be required to determine their own locations and then consult the database to find vacant frequencies to use. The FCC is also setting aside at least two channels for minor users of wireless microphones.
David Donovan, president of the Association for Maximum Service Television, said the group would work with the FCC to develop the technical protections to safeguard television signals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. To reach Scott Canon, call 816-234-4754 or send e-mail to scanon@kcstar.com.