Wireless users in the U.S. could gain new blocks of unlicensed wireless spectrum as several high-profile auctions are completed over the next 18 months, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said last week.
Major wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth currently operate in such spaces—blocks of the radio spectrum that are open to use by any technology and do not require formal FCC licensing—but some of those spaces are now crowded with signals.
If more space became available, it could allow the tech industry to develop and popularize new and as-yet-unrealized communications services. At least, that's the hope of companies in the industry that are pushing for an expansion of the current spectrum.
"I'm a big proponent of unlicensed spectrum," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said. He was speaking at the International CES expo in Las Vegas to a room of electronics industry insiders, lobbyists, and regulators. He later meet with industry representatives in Silicon Valley.
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