The national broadband advocacy group Connect Americans Now is applauding the state Senate’s passage of a joint resolution encouraging the use of TV white space technology, which relies on the unused buffer space between TV channels for broadband internet.
The resolution says legislators “are committed to the advancement of television white space technology” by ensuring the continued availability of at least three unlicensed channels of a certain frequency in every market in the country.
Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, says “we’ve had an effort for years to try to make broadband a little more accessible.”
He notes this recent resolution was aimed at the Federal Communications Commission, which is responsible for regulating TV channel frequencies and usage.
Steve Lyons, a government relations and communications specialist with Husch Blackwell and contract lobbyist for the Tech Council, says the FCC often looks at state legislatures and local municipalities to see where they stand on issues like this.
“It sends a message that we’re supportive, which kind of gets it to the 50-yard line on a lot of these things,” Lyons said at the recent Wisconsin Tech Summit, held in Waukesha by the Tech Council.
TV white space technology is heralded by many economic development groups and companies — including Microsoft — as the best option for extending high-speed internet into rural areas. Read the full story here.
;
