FCC: Use TV airwaves for mobile broadband

Ars Technica
The Federal Communications Commission is planning a proposal that would allow TV stations to “voluntarily relinquish” part of their licensed broadcast frequencies for use by broadband mobile Internet providers. In exchange, the current owners would receive a portion of the proceeds from the auction of those frequencies. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski described the proposal, part of the agency’s National Broadband Plan, during a speech on Wednesday. The FCC considers mobile broadband access an integral driver of our future economy, and Genachowski expressed concern that the current broadcast spectrum allocated to those services is insufficient. “Although the potential of mobile broadband is limitless, its oxygen supply is not,” he said. “Without sufficient spectrum, we will starve mobile broadband of the nourishment it needs to thrive as a platform for innovation, job creation and economic growth.”