White space devices (WSDs) will be allowed to access TV...

proposed exempting appropriate devices from Wireless Telegraphy Act licenses; making arrangements to allow information about licensed services in the relevant spectrum to be made available in a database; and specifying rules for geolocation databases seeking Ofcom accreditation. Based on the mostly favorable responses to its proposals, the regulator said it will open the 470 MHz-790 MHz band for opportunistic use, but will monitor ongoing practical trials to validate that using the geolocation approach prevents harmful interference. While the market for WSDs is “far from certain,” there’s substantial interest and potentially significant value in white space applications, it said. A harmonized, pan-European approach is ideally the best way to ensure that U.K. consumers and citizens receive maximum value from the spectrum, so Ofcom will help move EU harmonization efforts along, it said. With work in Europe at an early stage, and the development of relevant standards several years away, the U.K. has decided to enable deployment of WSDs, it said. Once EU standards are complete, they will supersede national regulations, it said. If no standards emerge in a suitable time frame, Ofcom will expect manufacturers and other industry parties to come up with proposals for a voluntary national specification to cover this area, it said. There may be many different options for database ownership, and Ofcom will take a flexible approach to them, it said. Parties interested in running such a database will have to apply for a listing on an Ofcom- or third-party-hosted website from which WSDs can select their preferred database, it said. Ofcom will rate applications against certain minimum requirements and may require contracts and payment for listings, it said. Ofcom will now further define the requirements third-party geolocation databases must meet, and study how to make industry information about licensed services available to a database, it said.