Broadband-Access Bid Falters

BROADBAND-ACCESS BID FALTERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Corey Boles corey.boles@dowjones.com]
A high-tech industry campaign to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to allow the use of a spare communications spectrum by wireless broadband providers may have been dealt a blow last week. FCC engineers were testing a prototype of a device supplied by Microsoft Corp., one of the leading advocates for the use of the spectrum. On two consecutive days, after lengthy testing, the device broke down, according to Ian Ferrell, director of wireless incubation at Microsoft. "We're not exactly sure what the issue is. It seems to be a power thing," Mr. Ferrell said. The so-called white spaces spectrum sits in-between the channels used by television broadcasters. It was left vacant by regulators to ensure there wouldn't be any interference with broadcasters' signals. Microsoft and other technology companies have argued the technology exists to sell devices that would use the spare spectrum to provide wireless broadband Internet service while automatically avoiding the broadcast signals. This is the second time devices supplied by Microsoft to the FCC for laboratory testing have malfunctioned.
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