White Space "Wi-Fi on Steroids" Networking Gets the Green Light from the FCC

As anticipated, the US Federal Communications Commission has approved the technical details on the unlicensed use of the so-called "white space" spectrum, left unused by the switch to digital over-the-air TV broadcasts, for wireless networking.

The move was met with congratulations and high hopes across the tech community as well as from the companies that pushed for it, notably Google and Microsoft.

With the technical details in place, manufacturers and companies can start building devices and services which take advantage of the lower-frequency spectrum to build wireless networks.

The white space wireless networks have been called Wi-Fi on steroids and for good reason, their range is orders of magnitude better than the best Wi-Fi technology can provide and they also handle natural obstacles such as walls, trees and buildings a lot better.

"This morning the Federal Communications Commission adopted final technical rules related to white spaces – the empty airwaves between broadcast TV channels – that we believe will pave the way for 'Wi-Fi on steroids'," Richard Whitt, Google's Washington Telecom and Media Counsel, wrote.

"For several years now, the tech industry, the public interest community, and entrepreneurs have been clamoring for the green light to begin innovating and building new products for these airwaves on an unlicensed basis," he said.

"Today’s order finally sets the stage for the next generation of wireless technologies to emerge, and is an important victory for Internet users across the country," he added.

This is just the first step. With all obstacles out of the way, the technology still has to become available to the actual consumers. No doubt, companies have been working on wireless hardware to take advantage of the new spectrum.

Most analysts expect, perhaps somewhat optimistically, that the new technology should be available to the mainstream market within a year or two.

Of course, this is great for the US, but not of much use elsewhere. However, with hardware manufacturers starting to roll out the technology at scale, prices will go down and the advantages of white-space networking along with the de-facto standardization should push for approval in the rest of the world.