Tampa Airport Describes FCC Rules As Just Talk

from the eh,-no-worries dept

Earlier this year the FCC made it very clear that only they could regulate the airwaves, and that airports could not block tenants from offering their own WiFi (or other wireless offerings). This ruling, which set up the potential for competition between the airports and their tenants (meaning that even airports are likely to have their WiFi fees drop) has obviously upset some airports. Wi-Fi Networking News reports that the Tampa International Airport is brushing away the FCC ruling as just "talk," and they believe that they own all the air on their land. While this may seem like a small squabble about who gets to charge for what, it does represent a much bigger deal. If the airport wins, you could see landlords banning WiFi networks in their apartment and office buildings unless you go through them -- something that almost happened at a dorm in Dallas earlier this year.
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  1. identicon
    data64, 15 Nov 2004 @ 11:13am

    If the airports win...

    If the airports win this one, then how long till they figure out that then can charge everyone for making cell phone calls in an airport. Isn't that pretty much the same issue ?

    link to this | view in thread ]


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