Regulatory Fees on the 802.11 Broadcast Spectrum?

Posted by Cliff on Tuesday July 1, 2003 @10:45AM from the YMMV-depending-on-locale dept.

Demerara asks: "I live in the Caribbean where I am putting together a business plan for a WISP on St. Lucia. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the St. Lucian National Telecomms Regulatory Commission here licenses and charges fees for 2.4Ghz spread spectrum applications. It's nearly US$400 to apply and, get this, nearly US$800 per link, per *year*. This blows the economics of a WISP out of the water. I may be reading the laws and regulations wrong but I don't think so. For example - they even charge an application fee and an annual license for the 'Family Band' walkie-talkies - look in the fees PDF. I am attempting to find out the following: what international agreements govern spectrum management; what international agreements govern licensing of WiFi or 802.11; and finally, are there any Slashdot readers out there who live in countries where 802.11 technology is also licensed or heavily regulated? The ITU website doesn't seem to answer these questions or, to be fair, I cannot come up with the keywords to find the answers. I'd love to hear from others who use or operate 802.11 under less than 'free' regulatory regimes."

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Your sig is so stupid. Grow up. by Delirium+Tremens · 2003-07-01 12:33 · Score: 0, Troll

I wish I could filter people who post with a sig so that I could look as stupid as you are.
Then maybe you can help me understand this one: why is it always the people who think they are open-minded who do the stupidest close-minded things? Or tell me: what do you think is wrong with the concept of open forums?