While the Federal Communications Commission is mostly done with Net Neutrality issues, the government agency is moving on to handle a new issue: airwave regulations. The government currently has exclusive access to certain wavelengths so that it can communicate and transmit information back and forth without commercial interference. However, it appears that the FCC, which has regulatory control over the airwaves, might consider opening those exclusive channels up to commercial use.
The FCC is supposed to vote on a plan "to allow wireless carriers and companies including Google to share airwaves with the government, in an effort to make more airwaves available for future wireless devices," Re/code reported. Before this vote, most frequencies could only be used by the military. But as more and more devices turn to wireless connections to communicate, it's important for them to have a variety of options so that devices can communicate effectively without interference from competitors or other devices. As a result, the FCC is considering making the range of commercial bandwidth larger than it was before.
This vote will deal specifically with the 3550-3650 MHz band, which FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler believes "has a potential opportunity for future commercial use." The agency is proposing a plan that would let commercial companies have access to this particular bandwidth, as well as maintaining the government's ability to use the bandwidth for its radar on its bases.
If this vote goes through, it will "provides an opportunity to try new innovations in spectrum licensing and access schemes to meet the needs of a multiplicity of users, simultaneously" Wheeler wrote in a blog post on Friday.
This plan has been in development since spring of last year. However, discussions over certain technicalities extended the conversation. Specifically, the military and tech firms like Google have been debating certain details, such as how large a military base's "protected zone" would be.
But now that the debating is done, the FCC has officiated the details and will vote on the new plan in April. However, it's unlikely that tech companies will see the new plan applied for a few years.
