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 NEWS  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974).  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322 
 FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE  News  Media  Contact:  July  8,  2004  Bruce  Romano 
 (202)  418-  2124 
 FCC  CHANGES  RULES  TO  PROMOTE  USE  OF  UNLICENSED  BROADBAND  SERVICE  IN  RURAL  AREAS 


 Washington,  DC  –  The  Federal  Communications  Commission  today  adopted  several  changes  to  its  rules  for  unlicensed  devices  to  facilitate  deployment  of  advanced  technologies  and 
 provide  operators  greater  flexibility  in  deploying  their  systems.  These  rule  changes  will  benefit  manufacturers,  businesses,  and  consumers,  and  will  be  particularly  beneficial  to  wireless  internet 
 service  providers  (WISPs)  that  are  offering  broadband  service  to  rural  and  underserved  areas. 
 In  its  Report  and  Order,  the  Commission  adopts  rules  to  foster  introduction  of  smart  antenna  technology  that  can  operate  at  higher  power  levels  without  causing  increased 
 interference.  Smart  antennas  will  allow  service  to  be  offered  over  larger  areas  with  reduced  infrastructure  costs.  Smart  antennas  also  permit  a  greater  number  of  users  to  be  served  within 
 the  same  spectrum  by  reusing  frequencies  in  several  directions  simultaneously. 
 The  Report  and  Order  also  makes  modifications  to  rules  that  will  facilitate  deployment  of  next-  generation  Bluetooth  devices,  which  operate  at  data  rates  up  to  three  times  faster  than 
 current  devices.  The  new  devices  will  be  backward  compatible  with  existing  devices  and  will  not  present  an  interference  risk  to  these  devices. 


 The  rule  changes  will  also  enable  manufacturers  and  system  operators  to  mix  various  antennas  and  radio  transmitters  without  the  need  to  obtain  a  separate  equipment  authorization  for 
 every  combination.  This  will  allow  systems  to  be  customized  to  meet  the  specific  needs  of  each  particular  installation,  without  added  costs  or  delays  for  additional  equipment  authorization. 


 The  Report  and  Order  makes  a  number  of  other  changes  to  provide  manufacturers  greater  flexibility  in  testing  and  authorizing  their  products,  such  as  allowing  for  use  of  consistent  testing 
 methods  for  certain  unlicensed  devices  operating  in  the  2.4  and  5.8  GHz  unlicensed  frequency  bands. 


 Action  by  the  Commission  July  8,  2004,  by  Report  and  Order  in  ET  Docket  No.  03-  201  (FCC  04-  165).  Chairman  Powell,  Commissioners  Abernathy,  Copps,  Martin,  and  Adelstein. 
 Office  of  Engineering  and  Technology  contact:  Neal  L.  McNeil  at  (202)  418-  2408  -FCC- 
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