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.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • 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 chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.