On eve of FCC vote, two lawmakers ask for white space spectrum for smart-grid devices

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to vote today on final rules allowing devices to use white space spectrum, but two U.S. lawmakers have asked the commission to allow smart-grid devices to have a place on that spectrum too.

 U.S. Representatives Doris Matsui and Anna Eshoo, both California Democrats, have asked the FCC to allow electric companies deploying smart-grid devices such as smart meters to use white space spectrum as broadband backhaul.

"We should be promoting policies to reach energy efficiency goals, and unused TV white spaces that will enable further development of smart grid technologies," the two lawmakers said in a letter to the FCC. "[We] support the efforts the FCC is making to finalize policies that will allow devices and technologies to fully leverage the white space spectrum to move our nation toward a more sustainable energy path."

For more:
- see this Computerworld article

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