The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday approved a rule that gives conditional support to the production of white spaces devices.
White spaces devices "should be of enormous benefit in solving the broadband deficit in many rural areas of the country," said Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps. "Ultimately, this careful threading of the needle between the path-breaking new and the tried and true old is going to reap huge benefits for the American people."
Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein agreed. "White spaces are the blank pages on which we'll write our broadband future," he said.
It is a "giant leap for American consumers to be able to use the untapped white spaces," said Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell.
The vote would allow the production of white spaces devices that use sensing plus geo-location at 100 milliwatts of power. The FCC would have to certify all devices before they go to market.
Devices that use sensing alone must be submitted for additional FCC tests, and that approval process would be open to the public. Approved devices would have to operate at a maximum of 50 milliwatts of power.
Sensing devices scan spectrum for unused channels while geo-location cross references a user's location with a database of licensed spectrum users in the area to make sure white spaces devices do not interfere.
What are white spaces? When TV stations switch from analog to digital signals in February 2009, unused spectrum or white spaces will emerge, and companies like Microsoft and Google want to use it for mobile broadband. Broadcasters, led by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), argue that such activity could disrupt TV signals and wireless microphone transmissions.
The FCC's Office of Engineering Technology (OET) released a report last month that approved the use of white spaces devices, and Tuesday's vote approves those guidelines.
"The FCC must recognize that technology cannot stand still," Copps said.
Though NAB actually supports the production of white spaces devices that combine sensing and geo-location, it has reserved its fire for the possibility that the FCC might approve sensing-only devices down the line.
NAB had been lobbying to delay Tuesday's vote until after a public comment on the OET report, an effort that had gained the support of various entertainment and sports groups, as well as politicians.
"By moving the 'white space' vote forward, the commission appears to have bypassed meaningful public or peer review in a proceeding of grave importance to the future of television," NAB said in a Tuesday statement.
NAB characterized Tuesday's vote as "just the beginning of a fight on behalf of the 110 million households that rely on television for news, entertainment, and lifesaving emergency information."
White spaces advocates said that FCC testing which has spanned four years in total -- had been more than adequate and that a rule needed to be in place in order to take advantage of white spaces after the February transition as soon as possible.
Commissioner Adelstein agreed with NAB on this issue, though he ultimately approved the rule in its entirety. The process was "not a model of transparency" and the final result was "something of a rush," he said.
It "creates unnecessary resentment [and is] not the process I would have undertaken" but because the OET includes "engineers of the highest caliber" who gave their support to the rule, "I will approve the policy and with great enthusiasm," Adelstein concluded.
Republican Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate praised the potential for white spaces to bring broadband to rural areas like her home state of Tennessee, but also raised some concerns and ultimately dissented in part.
Tate said she would have preferred that the rules include guidelines for how to submit complaints about white spaces interference, as well as language about the legal responsibility of device manufacturers should interference occur.
Her dissent, however, stems from the unlicensed nature of the white spaces spectrum. Given that the FCC made nearly $20 billion in the recent 700 MHz auction, it does not make sense to keep all white spaces channels 2 through 51 open and unlicensed, according to Tate.
"If all the white space in this band is unlicensed, [the FCC is] likely to ignore the huge value of alternative uses" and revenue streams, she said.
Earlier this year, the FCC kicked off lab and field tests of white spaces devices submitted by Philips, Motorola, and others.
"The FCC has taken a significant step to usher in a new era of technology allowing for major investments in innovative wireless broadband, education, and government/enterprise applications to spur economic development." Greg Brown, president and co-chief executive officer of Motorola, in a statement.
The Motorola device used geo-location plus sensing, while the Philips and Microsoft devices used sensing alone. Power problems eventually caused the Microsoft devices to malfunction, and they were removed from the FCC's testing cycle.
NAB seized on this failure and said it was evidence that white spaces devices are dangerous and a hazard to TV broadcasts.
Microsoft argued that the power functionality not the white spaces sensing capability was what failed on its device. The software giant also said that its devices should not be held as the gold standard given that it was not in the business of producing white spaces devices.
Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer for Microsoft, said Tuesday that the FCC's decision "ushers in a new era of wireless broadband innovation. Like other unlicensed facilities, which enabled popular technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, white spaces will make possible new and creative solutions to a range of broadband connectivity challenges."
"We will soon have "Wi-Fi on steroids," since these spectrum signals have much longer range than today's Wi-Fi technology and broadband access can be spread using fewer base stations resulting in better coverage at lower cost," Google co-founder Larry Page wrote in a Tuesday blog post.
Page praised the FCC for keeping the spectrum unlicensed and for deciding "to put science over politics."
The Information Technology Association of America and Washington-based public interest group Free Press also praised the vote.
"Thankfully, the mudslinging is over," Free Press policy director Ben Scott said in a statement. "Now it's time to start a new era of innovation that will help close the digital divide and finally provide Internet for everyone."
Not everyone was pleased.
"While not unexpected, today's FCC decision will greatly complicate the lives of wireless microphone users across the United States and negatively affect tens of millions of Americans listening to live and broadcast events," said Mark Brunner, senior director of global public and industry relations for Shure, an Illinois-based manufacturer of microphones and audio electronic.
"There will never be a metaphysical certainty when it comes to interference issues," but the FCC has approached this issue with "seriousness, and developed an approach that will adequately protect over-the-air viewers," Copps said.
Rep. Jay Inslee, a Washington Democrat who has authored pro-white spaces legislation, said the vote "is the important first step in bridging the digital divide in this country between the digital 'haves' and 'have-nots.' This technology is safe, it is cutting-edge, and it is time for it to be developed and deployed."
Editor's Note: This story was updated at 7pm Eastern with comments from Motorola and Inslee.