(Reuters) - Google Inc co-founder Larry Page has urged the Federal Communications Commission to give companies unlicensed access to vacant television channels before November's presidential election, the Wall Street Journal said.
These vacant channels, dubbed "white space," will allow more wireless devices to operate over airwaves to become available next year when television broadcasters switch over from analog to more efficient digital signals.
However, the idea is opposed by U.S. broadcasters and makers of wireless microphones who fear that allowing devices to access the airwaves between TV channels would cause interference.
"All the FCC (FCC.MC)needs to say is that we will allow people to use the spectrum in an unlicensed way if their devices don't interfere," the paper quoted Page as saying at a briefing in Washington sponsored by the Wireless Innovation Alliance, a coalition lobbying for access to the empty channels.
The FCC is testing equipment to see if the white-space spectrum can be used without interfering with TV broadcasts though several prototypes have run into problems in testing.
GOOGLE (GOOG.NQ)is part of a coalition of technology companies that has been lobbying the FCC to allow unlicensed use of white-space spectrum.
The group also includes Microsoft Corp
(Reporting by Savio D'Souza in Bangalore, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
