Motorola, NAB press cases before FCC white-space vote

The debate over white-space is getting white-hot.

Less than two weeks before the Federal Communications Commission is set to vote on whether it will allow white space spectrum, or the unlicensed spectrum that sits between airwaves currently licensed to TV broadcasters, to be used for unlicensed wireless applications, players on both sides of the issue are marshaling their arguments. Motorola, which along with companies such as Google and Microsoft, argues that white-space should be unlicensed, made an ex parte filing after Motorola CEO Greg Brown spoke with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin regarding the issue.

Brown spoke with Martin over the phone Wednesday and pressed the case that creating unlicensed applications for white-space spectrum has enormous potential and will lead to rural build-out of mobile broadband.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Broadcasters, which vehemently opposes the idea because they say it will create too much interference with their signals, earlier this week filed an emergency request for more time to comment on the proposal, essentially seeking to push back the vote, which is scheduled for Nov. 4. 

For more:
- see the filing [1]
- see this article [2]

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FCC [3] hopes to vote on white-space on Nov. 4
Tech companies laud FCC white-space [4] decision