dailynews
Schools may reap benefits of wireless industry plans
An ambitious plan to blanket the country with wireless Internet access has an unlikely beneficiary: public and private schools. For nearly 20 years, five California State University campuses in the Los Angeles area have banded together to broadcast live courses over public airwaves that were long ago set aside by the federal government for distance learning. Technological advances have made the airwaves easier to use--and much more lucrative to hold. For Cal State Los Angeles, Long Beach, Dominguez Hills, Fullerton and Pomona, as well as schools and religious institutions around the country, holding a license to the spectrum as the wireless industry expands has been like finding a winning lottery ticket in a dresser drawer.