Federal Communications chairman Kevin Martin is under fire for a controversial plan to open up unused spectrum for wireless devices. Joining a chorus of dissenters is a U.S lawmaker, television companies and big sport leagues.

According to Reuters, Rep. John Dingell, chairman of the House of Representatives House Energy and Commerce, has fired off a list of questions to Martin including “Why did the Commission decline to adopt a licensed approach to some of all of this spectrum?”

The FCC Chairman hopes to get a November 4 vote for the unlicensed approach to the spectrum. Should the plan go through, pockets of the wireless spectrum not already used will be declared “white spaces” and available for use once U.S. broadcasters move to digital television next year. Google, Motorola Inc and Microsoft are keen on the plan, with visions to use the space to push for a new generation of wireless devices.

Unfortunately broadcasters are far less keen. CBS Corp, ABC, and NBC have had their reps sign a protest letter against the proposal. Even big sports leagues have chimed in, calling the proposal a “huge leap backward” in sports broadcasting. The fear is that the move might disrupt live broadcast events, causing possible interference.

Why would Martin back such a proposal? The truth is that the particular bandwidth is underutilized and despite broadcaster fears, there aren’t huge risks of interference since broadcasters use different parts of the spectrum. But the possibility of interruption is still there and who knows what might happen once the “white spaces” are fully utilized by tech companies?

Besides the risk of interference, perhaps the broadcasters are mindful of possible competition. What’s stopping independent broadcasters from using the unlicensed spectrum freely? Perhaps the only way to assuage broadcaster fears is to look into licensing the spectrum. But if the November 4 vote succeeds, “white space” might just be the answer to getting the Internet everywhere, cheaply.

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Entry was posted on Sunday, October 26th, 2008 at 2:23 pm under Uncategorized.

Read more entries by Erna Mahyuni.
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