Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG) have filed asking the FCC to restart testing of prototype devices that can access the Internet using unlicensed spectrum, after a setback last month. FCC in August issued the results of their four-month-long investigation into these devices and found that the devices submitted for testing either interfered with TV signals or could not detect the signals to skirt around them.

In a filing with the FCC Friday, Microsoft and Philips said they have since conducted their own, successful white-spaces prototype testing, reports DJN, and have asked the FCC to therefore “extend its timetable for issuing a final order in this proceeding by a couple of months.” An order is expected in October.

The white-spaces initiative is only one of the ways companies such as Microsoft and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) are trying to expand options for Internet access beyond the control of telecom and cable companies...and the initiative is fiercely opposed by TV broadcasters...Earlier this week, ABC television network affiliates filed in opposition, and complained of “the potential for countless instances of interference to reception of digital television signals” if use of white spaces spectrum is approved, the story says.

• More White Noise: A Setback For The White Spaces Spectrum Lobby From Google, Others
• White Spaces Spectrum Bid by Microsoft, Google And Others Criticized For Interference