White-spaces technology has emerged as a potential solution to that problem. Since 2008, Microsoft and other companies have been involved in tests of television white spaces for internet access. To support the white-spaces plan, Microsoft is appealing to federal and state regulators to guarantee the use of unused television channels and investments in promoting the technology in rural areas. “Microsoft has been making promises about white-spaces technology for well over a decade,” Patrick McFadden, an associate general counsel for the association, wrote in comments to the commission. “There is no reason people in rural areas need to spend more.”

Source: New York Times July 11, 2017 03:56 UTC