Google Ramps Up 'White Spaces' Push

Google Inc. has followed its participation in the recently ended Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction with a redoubled push to make even more airwaves available for its Internet services and applications via so-called "white spaces."

Google and a group of technology companies have been pushing for the FCC to allow the unlicensed use of white spaces, or bands of unused spectrum between television channels. They argue that such use will enable broader access to fast Internet connections, while it would also likely provide a bigger market for their own respective services and devices.

Google, for example, said Monday that its "Android" mobile software initiative would benefit from access to the white spaces.

The white spaces issue, however, has so far been overshadowed by Google's participation in the recently ended FCC auction of licensed spectrum. Google successfully lobbied for rules that open some of the auctioned airwaves up to a broader array of devices and applications than have traditionally been permitted.

While Verizon Wireless ultimately won the auctioned spectrum with attached "open access" rules, the result is widely seen as a victory for Google and other companies hoping to further penetrate the wireless market with software applications and services.
In an effort to shift focus to the white spaces issue, Google sent a strongly worded letter to the FCC and also briefed reporters. The FCC is expected to make a decision on the use of white-space devices as early as this summer, while the soonest possible use of the airwaves would be in early 2009.

"We want to move the ball forward," Google attorney Richard Whitt said during a conference call with reporters, adding that unlicensed use of the white spaces could make wireless access akin to "Wi-Fi on steroids" available to a large number of Americans.
In a letter filed with the FCC late Friday, Google also linked its white spaces effort to the Android mobile software initiative, a sponsored drive for developers to create technology more amenable to software services than those currently available.

"It seems Android would be a very nice match for the white spaces," Whitt said, adding that nascent Android technology is far from being approved for use on any current networks.

Whitt said Google hopes "to roll out (Android) devices some time later this year, maybe the fall of this year."

While Google won't product devices itself, it's expected to partner with a number of companies in the effort.

Other companies pushing for the unlicensed use of white spaces include Microsoft Corp. and Motorola Inc. But their proposal has drawn strong criticism from a number of groups, including the National Association of Broadcasters and the Association for Maximum Service Television, a group that includes representatives from General Electric Co.'s NBC and CBS Corp. The groups complain that unlicensed use of white spaces devices will interfere with licensed broadcasts.

But Whitt said Google is promoting technology that would ensure devices won't interfere with other signals and complained that the issue has been marred by "over-politicization."

"It is an unfortunate, yet not surprising, fact that some entities prefer the comfort of the past to the promise of the future, and use their influence to convince policymakers to protect legacy applications -- at any and all costs," Google said in its letter to the FCC.

Whitt said Google intends to reach out to the broadcasters to discuss white-space technology specifications.

The FCC is now conducting a second round of testing of white-space technology, submitted by Microsoft and others intended to prove that it won't interfere with other broadcasts.

Google has shared results of its own testing with the commission, but won't submit its technology to the FCC for testing.

Ultimately, Whitt said that Google is hoping to have white-space devices released to consumers "by the holiday season of late 2009."

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