U.S. Wireless Broadband Rollouts Counting on DTV Transition

As the continental U.S. prepares to switch from analog to digital television (DTV) broadcasting next month, politicians are starting to debate whether to delay this cutover. Among the many issues involved, certain types of wireless broadband Internet service could be impacted by such a delay. Cellular providers like Verizon, for example, need the signal spectrum which shall be freed by halting analog TV transmissions for their future LTE based mobile broadband services.

Of course, a short delay of a few months could help more people than it hurts. The bigger concern is that the U.S. has had more than 3 years advance notice of the DTV transition date (17 February 2009) and may still not be ready. How much longer will it take to solve whatever problems still remain after all this time?

→ See also - Will the DTV Transition Be Delayed? (tv.about.com)
→ See also - About Wi-Fi 2.0 and TV White Spaces

Digital TV Converters and the U.S. DTV Transition - Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images