The idea of allowing vacant TV broadcast spectrum to be used on an unlicensed basis for mobile broadband is beginning to gain traction outside the U.S., where the idea originated. This week saw white spaces announcements from French research institute CEA-Leti and from Japan’s National...Learn More

Spectrum Bridge, the company that pioneered the use of a database to free up unused white spaces spectrum, has completed a field trial of the database and has requested that the FCC certify the solution. “The 45-day trial started on September 19 and was successfully...Learn More

The FCC issued a public notice Sept. 14 announcing the first trial of a white spaces wireless broadband database. Limited public testing of Spectrum Bridge’s database system “is intended to allow the public to access and test the system to ensure that it correctly identifies...Learn More

The FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) has designated Microsoft an administrator of the TV whitespaces database. The July 29 designation calls for Microsoft to develop and operate a TV bands database in its geographic area that will identify unused broadcast TV spectrum, also...Learn More

The IEEE has approved 802.22 as a wireless regional area network (WRAN) standard. The new standard, known informally as super wi-fi (or white-fi) operates in the TV UHF and VHF channel bands, also known as ‘white space’ spectrum. The new technology holds great promise for...Learn More

The draft of a new spectrum bill circulating within Congress has raised a furor, particularly within the tech community. The blogosphere has been quite active, with much of the commentary coming out against some of the provisions in the legislation. The draft legislation, proposed by...Learn More

When we first started hearing about technology to enable network operators and others to utilize unused television broadcast spectrum known as “white spaces” for high-speed data communications, the name that became almost synonymous with the “white spaces” term was Spectrum Bridge. But now that the...Learn More

Spectrum Bridge, Google, Telcordia Technologies and Neustar are among nine companies conditionally selected by the Federal Communications Commission last week to serve as white spaces database administrators. That initiative had its genesis in an FCC order released in September that released unused television spectrum for...Learn More

TV White Spaces spectrum is the wireless spectrum available from unused TV broadcast channels made available from the June 2009 digital TV transition. Proponents of the spectrum argue it’s ideally suited for wireless broadband, kind of like a new and improved Wi-Fi experience. Some are...Learn More