The FCC's vote Wednesday will allow AT&T and other mobile carriers to provide mobile and fixed broadband service in a 30MHz band of wireless communications service (WCS) spectrum. The commission's vote approved a deal between AT&T, the largest spectrum holder in the WCS band, and Sirius XM, which provides satellite radio service in an adjacent band of spectrum. The deal revises technical rules for mobile carriers operating in the WCS band.

The FCC auctioned the WCS spectrum in 1997, but the spectrum has been in regulatory limbo for 15 years as users of nearby spectrum complained about potential interference. In recent months, the FCC has been pushing for an agreement, said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

The FCC and in 2010 to free up 500MHz of spectrum for commercial mobile broadband and unlicensed uses within 10 years, in response to skyrocketing consumer demand for mobile bandwidth.

"For many years, we had a large swath of spectrum frozen and unused," said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. "But this year, things began to thaw."

AT&T praised the commission's vote. "The era of regulatory dispute and uncertainty in the WCS band is finally drawing to a close," Joan Marsh, AT&T's vice president of federal regulatory affairs, . "We anticipate that the service rules adopted today will permit deployment of LTE technologies in the WCS band while ensuring that satellite radio services are protected from unreasonable interference."