Think Again: White Open Spaces, Owned by Us

But here’s some good news: Not all frequencies on the spectrum have been sold. The unused “white spaces,” and the upcoming national transition away from analog television to digital signals, guarantees that even more will soon be available. In the past, these frequencies remained open in order to provide buffer zones designed to prevent broadcast interference, but technological advances have made these buffers unnecessary. (For more on the technological aspects of this case, take a look at this video from the public interest organization, Freepress.net.)

These unused frequencies may be able to provide something America desperately needs: a nationwide, low-cost, high-speed Internet connection. But the same companies that find the current situation so profitable want to make sure that no one and nothing gets in the way of their gravy train—and are therefore fighting it.

It’s a big arena with a lot of contestants. The broadcast behemoths, citizens groups, Google, and other computer and Internet providers, and even Broadway production companies have shown up for battle. And there’s plenty at stake. In New York City, for instance, fully 20 percent of the spectrum will remain unused after the switch to digital television signals. In Dallas-Ft. Worth, the figure is 40 percent, and in places like Juneau, Alaska, it’s nearly 75 percent.

New technologies can use these frequencies to send high-speed Internet services across the country. Google co-founder Larry Page estimates that these frequencies could carry high-speed Internet to underserved rural and urban communities to the Internet at one-tenth the cost of current municipal wi-fi projects.

Now remember that this country ranks 15th in the world in broadband penetration, and note that increasingly, without the Internet, companies, educational systems, and medical facilities are at a disadvantage as knowledge and technological know-how is increasingly spread over a broadband connection. This is truly a recipe for two nations: one of haves and one of have-nots.