November 5th, 2008
Golden era of open spectrum dawns
While you were watching Barack Obama become President-elect something just as Earth-shattering was happening in Washington.
The golden era of open spectrum was launched.
It was launched by the FCC opening 300-400 MHz of spectrum between abandoned TV channels for unlicensed use. WiFi on steroids, as it were.
Google, Microsoft and Motorola won. Broadcasters and their allies lost. For me this was the biggest upset of the night.
The amount of spectrum is not nearly so important here as its location.
TV stations broadcast channels are far lower on the frequency spectrum than the microwaves WiFi uses now. Longer waves take more power to produce, but they can go further before attenuating.
This means rural co-ops will be able to bring wireless broadband to all homes in their areas, just for the cost of the antennae and the backhaul.
There was a real technical breakthrough here. Interference was nearly eliminated when sensing technology was combined with GPS technology, meaning these new WiFi devices will have GPS technology built into them.
The rules will be enforced as they are with WiFi, through device approvals, and just as important the decision was unanimous.
Everyone whose business is spectrum or content exclusivity is unhappy. Can they overturn this decision in court? I don’t think so.
But as the old TV pitchmen used to say wait, there’s more.
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), which represents the telecoms, sent a nastygram to the FCC saying that its “reserve price” for the highly-prized “D” block of spectrum which went unauctioned recently is too high.
That is important because it means 20 MHz of prime, contiguous spectrum real estate will likely not have its fate decided until a new FCC is appointed, which may have a different attitude than the current bunch.
Oh, and spectrum owners are complaining about paying cash for their spectrum. They are demanding the right to buy it through loans. Deny them that right and more unlicensed spectrum may be forthcoming.
What this means for you is that there will be real competition for the phone and cable monopolists going forward. There will be enormous profit opportunities for equipment makers. Incumbents will have to earn customer loyalty by offering more bandwidth at lower prices.
Is it possible, can we really free the bits? Yes we can. We just did.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 11/05/08
