On June 28, 2006, the Senate Commerce Committee approved wide-ranging (and highly-contentious) telecommunications legislation which is now awaiting action on the Senate floor. The Advanced Telecommunications Opportunity and Reform Act (HR 5252) includes two key sections meant to remove barriers to rural and municipal wireless broadband networks. Title VI would open up much-needed -- and currently unused -- TV spectrum for use by unlicensed wireless broadband devices, and Title V would lift state-level restrictions on municipal broadband networks.

Across the country, local governments, nonprofit community groups, campuses and thousands of start-up commercial providers are already deploying wireless broadband networks on unlicensed spectrum to enhance government efficiency and public safety, and to extend affordable high-speed access to homes, businesses, and schools. However, rural and muni wireless broadband providers in particular need more and better access to the airwaves in order to achieve the goal of universally affordable and pervasive connectivity.

This Capitol Hill event offered a variety of perspectives on how freeing up unused TV spectrum and asserting local telecommunications freedom are vital steps to fostering broadband deployment—and how rural areas, small businesses, educational institutions, local governments, and consumers stand to benefit.

The event also marked the release of two New America Foundation papers:

• Populating the Vacant Channels, by Pierre de Vries, former Senior Director of Advanced Technology Policy at Microsoft, affirms that an unlicensed allocation of the TV white space would be the most productive way to use this currently wasted spectrum, spurring technical and commercial innovation.
  
• Why Unlicensed Use of Vacant TV Spectrum Will Not Interfere with Television Reception, authored by three of the nation’s most respected spectrum engineers, explains why the use of “smart radios,” in combination with the conventional FCC rulemaking and device testing process, will be adequate to protect DTV viewers from harmful interference.