High-tech firms and engineers are dreaming that the Federal Communication Commission’s move to release “white spaces,” or unused television channels, later this month will unleash another boom of mobile innovation.

Calling the communications technology “super WiFi,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said that private carriers are increasingly relying on WiFi hot spots in urban areas to pick up data traffic where their own networks are overburdened. AT&T, for example, has installed many more hot spots in Manhattan, where iPhone users have complained of slow Internet service.