WASHINGTON Federal regulators saidWednesdaythat they will allowcertainnew wireless devices to use a portion ofunlicensed airwavesnow used largely for Wi-Fi,a move aimed at ending a long-running dispute betweenindustries.

The Federal Communications Commission said it would open up currently-unlicensed airwaves for use by new 4G LTE wireless devices known as LTE-U (for unlicensed). The move will allow wireless providers to deliver mobile broadband service while sharing the road with Wi-Fi, FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement.

Pai added that industry testing demonstrated that both these [LTE-U] devices and Wi-Fi operations can co-existThis [announcement] heralds a technical breakthrough in the many shared uses of this spectrum.

LTE-U will provide customers with another option that offers the extra capacity of unlicensed spectrum, but also the added security and faster speeds of LTE, a wireless broadband technology. Both VerizonCommunications Inc. VZ, +0.49% and T-MobileUS Inc. TMUS, -0.19% ,saidon Wednesdaythat they would launch LTE-U network capabilities and devices in the spring.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

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FCC opens bandwidth to new LTE-U technology - MarketWatch