McDowell Sees Workable Unlicensed Mobile Device Sharing DTV Spectrum

MCDOWELL SEES WORKABLE UNLICENSED MOBILE DEVICE SHARING DTV SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell is confident that unlicensed mobile devices can eventually be allowed to share the broadcast spectrum with digital TV stations. Commissioner McDowell has long been a strong advocate of unlicensed devices in the so-called "white spaces" -- he prefers "gray spaces" since there are current operators in those spaces. But recent FCC testing has raised questions about the current crop of those devices, though the FCC is retesting after computer companies blamed faulty equipment rather than the underlying technology. Commissioner McDowell , in a speech to a spectrum policy group in Washington Monday, said that the FCC has a duty to make sure the devices do not cause "harmful interference" to the current occupants of the band--the broadcasters making the leap to digital. The devices, PDA's laptops--sense out--or broadcasters would say "attempt to sense" -- available broadcast spectrum. But Commissioner McDowell also said he was confident that the technology could be perfected if science, not politics, informed the process.
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