The Federal Communications Commission has approved the merger of Sprint-Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. WiMAX assets. The Commission also approved the Verizon Wireless merger with Alltel, on the same day it approved the unlicensed use of TV "white spaces" for broadband access and services.
The decisions collectively mean even more competition in the broadband access space, especially in rural areas, as "white spaces"--spectrum typically used to support terrestrial broadcast television--are ideal for long-distance transmission and penetration of solid objects such as walls.
Some work still needs to be done on the network design front, as lower-power broadband devices used by consumers and businesses will not be able to transmit as far as a TV transmitter can. That suggests network designs typically used by "cellular" operators will be needed.
So use of the spectrum will be "free." The networks will not be.
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