Insatiable consumer appetite for wireless phones, pagers, and handheld devices has made the nation's airwaves a dwindling resource. Looking for greater efficiency, federal regulators proposed rules that would allow companies to sublet frequencies licensed to them by the government.
If approved, the effort to create a secondary market would mark a sea change in how the government manages commercial use of the airwaves. Currently, a company must buy a license from the Federal Communications Commission to use radio spectrum for wireless or broadcast services. But the booming demand for frequencies has prompted regulators to look at ways to free up more space. Under the FCC's new proposal, companies holding licenses could lease out portions of unused airwaves to third parties without agency approval. Companies that hold government licenses would be responsible for ensuring that interference-protection rules are not violated by a user subleasing spectrum.
The FCC probably will vote in the first half of next year on whether to implement the changes.