It is faster than WiFi so it can handle more data.

Because it uses broadcast television signals, any place that can pick up a broadcast TV signal should be able to tap into White Spaces. A large range of wireless frequencies have always been reserved for broadcast television, much of it unused. Researchers at Microsoft, Google, Dell and other companies, like Spectrum Bridge, developed methods to let data devices like PCs use those blank frequencies.

But when they first showcased their research, broadcasters weren't happy. They argued that TV Band Devices (TVBDs) would interfere with television signals. Years of bickering ensued between the broadcast companies, device makers like Microsoft and Google and the FCC. Many iterations of devices were built and tested. The data folks officially won in late 2010 when the FCC said it would allow TVBDs.

Before millions of devices could be sold and put into use, TVBDs needed a way to make sure they wouldn't knock out any TV stations. The north american FCC decided a complex database was the solution. This would keep track of TVBDs and assign them safe frequencies.

Such a database would in turn need “database administrators.” Earlier this year, the FCC selected nine companies to do the job -- all that applied -- including Google and Spectrum Bridge. They would be allowed to charge a small fee for their efforts.

After Google was accepted, Microsoft applied. And the FCC said, sure, why not? It let Microsoft be a database administrator, too.

But the real money will be in devices and applications for those devices, perhaps billions of dollars worth.

In a written statement, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said,  "Unleashing white spaces spectrum has the potential to exceed even the many billions of dollars in economic benefit from Wi-Fi, the last significant release of unlicensed spectrum, and drive private investment and job creation.”

One database and one device in one city does not a billion make. But it has to start somewhere.