Two prominent United States Senators have told the Federal Communications Commission that it's time to fast track "white space" devices for sending and receiving broadband.

"We request that you prioritize action on white spaces and urge the FCC to adhere to its Broadband Action Agenda and complete final rules in the third quarter of 2010," Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) wrote to the FCC on Monday. The letter also notes that it has been nearly two years since the FCC first authorized the technology, which will allow devices to utilize unused television channels for wireless broadband.

"As you know, spectrum below 1 Gigahertz is both scarce and valuable," they added. "Today, the TV white spaces remain a viable option for unlicensed use below 1GHz and jump-starting a period of innovation that could equal or surpass what we have seen with WiFi. Due to the propagation characteristics of the frequencies, unlicensed broadband devices will be able to cover a far wider service area in rural areas than the range in which unlicensed devices operate today thus providing an opportunity to narrow the 'digital divide' that unfortunately continues to exist."

It's not like the FCC hasn't been doing anything about this issue. The Commission has been working on setting up the license-holder databases necessary to prevent interference with TV signals (Google says it will run them for free). But there's still the tricky question of whether spectrum sensing technology should be employed to protect wireless microphones from interference as well. Some groups have argued that that second requirement would place too much of a burden on unlicensed broadband gadgets. Kerry and Snowe's letter seems to lean in that direction.

"These microphones are used for performing arts, places of worship, and schools and provide a valuable audio tool to users and their audiences," they wrote. "However, a number of these microphones have operated illegally on TV spectrum and such unauthorized behavior should not continue to be allowed—the FCC must better enforce the rules it implements."

And:

"It should be noted that geolocation technology coupled with a database should adequately protect users and additional spectrum sensing capabilities should only be required when absolutely necessary since such requirement would unduly drive up the cost of white space devices and deter low cost deployment opportunities."

The FCC's National Broadband Plan has the agency scheduled to release a final Order on white spaces devices some time between July and September.