Posted by dan on: 2006-02-10 16:23:06 Article Viewed : 582
U.S. President George Bush on Wednesday signed a bill that will open up a chunk of highly coveted radio spectrum to new mobile broadband applications and to public safety agencies.
Bush signed into law legislation setting February 17, 2009, as the date U.S. broadcasters must end transmission of analog television signals and move to all-digital broadcasts. The move from the upper-700-MHz spectrum band will free 60 MHz of wave space for auction to mobile wireless carriers and 24 MHz for emergency response agencies.
TV viewers who receive over-the-air signals on analog TV sets will need to buy converters to get any TV signals after the transition. The bill Bush signed includes up to $1.5 billion in funding to provide two $40 vouchers per household to use toward the purchase of digital-to-analog set-top converter boxes.
The upper-700-MHz band would allow wireless signals to travel four to five times as far as existing mobile phone signals can, advocates of the digital television (DTV) deadline said. That makes the spectrum valuable for mobile broadband providers and for police and fire departments that want to communicate better with regional counterparts.
News Source Pc World
U.S. President George Bush on Wednesday signed a bill that will open up a chunk of highly coveted radio spectrum to new mobile broadband applications and to public safety agencies.
Bush signed into law legislation setting February 17, 2009, as the date U.S. broadcasters must end transmission of analog television signals and move to all-digital broadcasts. The move from the upper-700-MHz spectrum band will free 60 MHz of wave space for auction to mobile wireless carriers and 24 MHz for emergency response agencies.