================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 2 ISSN 1069-7799 January 10, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (82 lines) SPECTRUM AVAILABLE FOR NEW UNLICENSED EQUIPMENT _________________________________________________________________ SPECTRUM AVAILABLE FOR NEW UNLICENSED EQUIPMENT According to an FCC news release, the FCC today made available 300 MHz of spectrum for Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices that will provide short-range, high speed wireless digital communications. The Commission stated that in making available this spectrum it anticipates that these new devices, which do not require licensing, will support the creation of new wireless local area networks (LANs) and facilitate access to the information highway. The Commission said that the new rules will foster the development of a broad range of new devices, stimulate the growth of new industries, and promote the ability of U.S. manufacturers to compete globally by enabling them to develop unlicensed digital products for the world market. The U-NII spectrum is located at 5.15 - 5.35 GHz and 5.725 - 5.825 GHz. The Commission said that availability of this spectrum for U-NII devices will help meet growing communications demands resulting from the development of new digital technologies. U-NII devices may also provide a means for educational institutions, libraries, and health care providers in rural areas, to connect to basic and advanced telecommunications services, as envisioned by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Educational institutions, for example, could form inexpensive wireless computer networks between classrooms, thereby providing cost-effective access to an array of multimedia services on the Internet. Similarly libraries may be able to use this spectrum to provide links within buildings, among branches or connect to other institutions. In addition, unlicensed wireless networks could help improve the quality and reduce the cost of medical care by allowing medical staff to obtain on-the-spot patient data, X-rays, and medical charts. FCC Commissioner Susan Ness in a separate statement said that the bands selected are consistent with the European High Performance Local Area Network (HIPERLAN) potentially enabling such devices to be exported. In a July 1995 letter to the FCC, ALA supported Apple Computer, Inc.'s (Apple) NII Band Petition for Rulemaking and urged the FCC to begin hearings on the creation of a new unlicensed wireless radio service of 300 Mhz in the 5GHz range stating that, "Technologically, the NII band petition could help meet the needs of library, school and other educational institutions for which a wire-line "last-link" to the NII is not feasible, or is at best, a low-grade, small bandwidth link. Making a higher grade band available through wireless technology promotes greater accessibility to the full range of multimedia information that is and will be available on the NII." The FCC news release on ET Docket No. 96-102 and statement of FCC Commissioner Susan Ness are available at http://www.fcc.gov/. _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org or visit http://www.ala.org/washoff/subscribe.html. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Andrew Magpantay All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================