National Grange President Betsy Huber issued the following statement after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finalized (PDF) the Unlicensed Reconsideration and Database Accuracy proceedings on Wednesday, both of which help remove regulatory uncertainty in the TV white spaces technology market:
“There are few challenges facing rural America as great as the rural broadband gap, and we applaud Chairman Pai and the rest of the Commissioners for taking this initial step to remove some of the regulatory barriers limiting investments in TV white spaces technology.
“With this important step out of the way, we encourage the Commission to quickly issue a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to address the outstanding regulatory issues hindering TV white space technology’s deployment so more rural Americans can finally take advantage of the world of opportunities that exist online.”
White Space refers to the unused broadcasting frequencies in the wireless spectrum. Television networks leave gaps between channels for buffering purposes, and this space in the wireless spectrum is similar to what is used for 4G and could be used to deliver broadband internet in rural areas.
