On Tuesday, regulators at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted to open up white spaces, the unused portion of the spectrum from 512MHz to 698MHz assigned to broadcast TV.

Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Google were among the companies that fought to open up the white spaces, which will provide an additional broadband option for users, especially in rural areas.

Proponents say the TV spectrum can carry broadband signals significantly farther than Wi-Fi, and that opening up the spectrum will help expand the market for new smartphone-like devices.

"We intend to integrate white-space radios into future Dell products," said Neeraj Srivastava, director of technology policy at Dell. The products could include laptops, netbooks, and any other devices that provide wireless network access. He didn't say when the technology would be added.

The radio chips can be small enough to fit in small devices such as smartphones. "From a design perspective, there's no constraint in the size of the radio," Srivastava said.