On Nov. 4, the FCC voted to approve the unlicensed use of “white spaces” — empty airwaves between television channels — to provide high-speed Internet access nationwide. This vote follows an exhaustive 18-month study that concluded new technology can use white spaces without harming adjacent TV signals.

In letters to the FCC and Congress, the nation’s leading consumer, media and public interest groups voiced their strong support for opening white spaces.

Nearly every market in the United States has available white spaces; in some communities, more than three-quarters of the broadcast spectrum is unused. The FCC vote allows innovators to develop new technologies that will bring Internet service to millions of Americans in underserved communities. For more, visit www.freepress.net/whitespaces.