By Malathi Nayak
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators on Friday voted to open a swath of government-controlled airwaves for commercial use by tech and telecom companies such as Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) as they seek to meet growing data demands from new wireless devices.
The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to chalk out a process to allow companies free access to the frequencies in the 3.5 gigahertz band.
Those airwaves' ability to carry heavy data across short distances makes them particularly attractive to companies.
The plan to open up the frequencies can, for instance, help boost the capacity of companies' existing wireless networks, especially in densely populated locations or indoors. It could even help wirelessly connect specific devices like thermostats or washing machines to facilitate the "Internet of things."
Friday's vote will kick-start the process of setting up a system for companies to begin using frequencies now dedicated to military radars and other government operations, by sharing them in places where commercial users would not interfere with incumbent users.
The opening up of 3.5 GHz airwaves "is setting a new paradigm for how spectrum sharing should work," chairman Tom Wheeler said in remarks in Washington.
The plan would allow wireless providers and others to use the airwaves without charge similarly to Wi-Fi, or to buy licenses for short-term exclusive use in some areas if the airwaves get crowded.
The FCC has been developing the system, known as the Citizens Broadband Radio Service, since 2012 and has drawn interest from various wireless Internet service and device companies, including Verizon, Google, Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Inc and Ericsson.
The move was praised by the Telecommunications Industry Association, a trade group.
"The spectrum crunch remains very real and the FCC's action represents significant progress towards opening more spectrum for broadband," the TIA's chief executive Scott Belcher said in a statement.
The FCC is gearing up to hold an auction early next year of another set of airwaves belonging to broadcasters and repackaging them to sell them to the wireless industry.