Rural Broadband Story Alert
By Wally Bowen

This October, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to complete a rulemaking process that could open the door to solving the rural broadband Internet access problem.

Or, this rulemaking could further delay a solution to the lack of affordable broadband which handicaps so many of our rural communities. The FCC ruling will decide whether or not vacant TV channels -- which become available next February when TV goes digital -- may be used for unlicensed wireless broadband Internet access.

The technology is similar to the popular wireless broadband -- known as Wi-Fi -- now used in homes, airports, and coffee shops nationwide. These TV channels (part of our public airwaves) are far superior to the unlicensed spectrum currently used for Wi-Fi access -- and for a wealth of other useful wireless devices ranging from baby monitors to garage-door openers. This spectrum has exceptional reach and coverage: signals travel further, using less power than in the higher frequency bands, and can penetrate foliage and solid objects, making it easier and cheaper to construct networks.

Unlicensed use of this spectrum is a cost-effective solution to the rural broadband problem, and it is close at hand. Without unlicensed access to these vacant public channels, rural America will be condemned to even more years of absentee-owned telecommunications networks -- and the dependency and neglect this system perpetuates.

A growing coalition of rural organizations -- including the Center for Rural Strategies, Main Street Project, and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance -- are urging the FCC to approve unlicensed use of the vacant TV channels. This letter to the FCC will be added to the official FCC file on the vacant TV channels (known in tech-speak as the "white spaces"). [The FCC letter is "Unlicensed Operation in the TV Broadcast Bands"; other documents are backgrounders.]

For more information, please email Wally Bowen at:
wallyb@main.nc.us
Center for Rural Strategies
Main Street Project
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Native Public Media
Mountain Area Information Network