WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal regulators voted Thursday to allow cell phone companies and others to lease unused portions of their airwaves, a move that could lead to new wireless services for consumers, particularly in rural areas.

The decision is part of an effort to make more efficient use of airwaves growing crowded with signals from cell phones and wireless gadgets. By leasing airwaves, companies can make deals to use slices to fill cell phone dead zones or provide wireless services to certain locations for limited times.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 4-1 to abandon a 40-year-old standard that restricted leasing. The new regulation allows airwaves license-holders to work out leasing deals without prior FCC approval.

“Our decision unlocks value trapped for too many years in a regulatory box,” FCC Chairman Michael Powell said. He said the decision “will expand spectrum access for innovators and entrepreneurs, increasing the number and variety of wireless applications available to consumers.”

Commissioner Michael Copps said he supported the goal of the decision, but voted against it because he doubted the FCC’s legal authority to make the change.

Copps thanked the other commissioners for cutting out a proposal that would have given television and radio broadcasters the same ability to lease airwaves. Unlike cell phone companies who paid the government for airwaves, broadcasters received their airwaves for free to provide over-the-air TV and radio.

“To allow them to sell this spectrum for other uses would have been deeply troubling,” he said.

The wireless industry praised the new regulation, which should go into effect within two months.

The decision “will deliver to carriers improved access to the airwaves, increasing their flexibility and bringing down their costs, which should ultimately result in lower prices for consumers,” said Tom Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association.

John Muleta, chief of the FCC’s wireless bureau, said small rural cell phone companies can soon lease unused airwaves from a national carrier that does not provide service in their areas. Organizers of events like the Olympics also can lease airwaves covering a particular area for a limited time to provide communications or Internet access, he said.

As wireless technology improves, leases could cover certain times of day, Muleta said. For example, a cell phone carrier could rent extra airwaves for use only during peak hours in areas where its coverage is weak.

The regulation primarily involves cell phone companies, but also applies to firms providing service for pagers, airplane phones and other radio communications.

The FCC’s monthly meeting was interrupted briefly twice by demonstrators opposed to Powell’s efforts to ease restrictions on the ownership of newspapers and TV and radio stations. The protesters waved a pink woman’s slip at Powell, saying that they were issuing him a “pink slip” for failing to regulate media companies and protect the public.

The FCC is to vote on overhauling the ownership rules on June 2.

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AP-ES-05-15-03 1631EDT