The FCC allocates frequency space in the U.S. for commercial, government, non-governmental entities, and amateur use.   One area that has drawn a great deal of interest is the return of airwaves from broadcasters. 

According to the 1996 Telecommunications Act and subsequent legislation, broadcasters are supposed to give back the airwaves they now use once the availability of digital signals reaches a certain threshold.  The 700-MHz spectrum, long occupied by the NTSC standard saw no significant change since the black and white to color TV transition took place in the early 1950s.

Today, more than 85% of households in just about all of the nation’s 210 TV markets receive it through digital signals.  Now that broadcasters have attained this threshold, the broadcasters return the spectrum.  Carriers were loathe to return the spectrum for a variety of competitive (e.g. cable) and policy reasons.  After a lot of wrangling, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law DTV legislation which sets February 17, 2009 as the hard date by which broadcasters release the spectrum to the government.  The law also calls for an auction of 60 megahertz of the reclaimed auction by January 2008.   According to OMB, such an auction would generate an estimated $10B to $20B in revenue for the U.S. Treasury.  Good news for reducing the deficit.  It’s also good news for for consumers, and for technology companies seeking opportunities. 

WiMAX technology is slated to occupy the coveted 700-MHz band.  WiMAXstands for W orldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (the IEEE 802.16).  WiMAX can transmit data over long distances in a variety of different ways, including point to point as well as full mobile cellular access.  The upper-700-MHz band would allow wireless signals to travel four to five times as far as existing mobile phone signals can.  That makes the spectrum valuable for wireless and mobile broadband providers.

More broadband access at faster speeds at greater distances.  Cool.  As IP becomes the protocol of choice for delivering media rich content, there will be more IPTV sites emerging.  Rural and isolated communities may now gain broadband access at affordable rates.  Check out Craig McCaw’s Clearwire company which uses WiMAX to solve the last mile problem to deliver broadband to a broad range of communities.

Bottom line – what does this mean for you and me?

• Every household that do not have digital ready TVs will be entitled to two $40 vouchers to purchase analog to digital converter boxes.
• Speedier IP cell phones.
• Hi Def IPODS and handhelds receiving full length programming and movie content.
• Ubiquitous high speed wireless without regard (just about) where you’re located.
• Cellular mobile phone can become portable game consoles and full TV receivers.
• Affordable high speed Internet access in rural communities.

It also means there will be more demand for media rich content being developed.  Multimedia messaging services (“MMS”) will proliferate as more gets pushed to portable devices.  Just as IMS is available through all manner of devices, MMS will enable media rich messages to be transmitted by and to P2P, B2B, B2C.