Google Latest Gambit: "Wi-Fi On Steroids"

Fresh off its "happy loss" in the F.C.C.'s wireless spectrum auction, Google has again asked the government to open up the unlicensed "white spaces" on broadcast television airwaves to allow the company to offer what is calls "Wi-Fi on steroids."

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, Richard Whitt, Google's chief telecommunications lawyer, wrote that the unused airwaves offer a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband access to all Americans." Google made the letter public on Monday.

"As Google has pointed out previously, the vast majority of viable spectrum in this country simply goes unused, or else is grossly underutilized," Whitt wrote. "Unlike other natural resources, there is no benefit to allowing this spectrum to lie fallow."

In a conference call Monday, Whitt said the "white spaces" could be used to create a new nationwide wireless network - what he termed "Wi-Fi 2.0," or "Wi-Fi on steroids."

The "white spaces" are unlicensed spectrum - as opposed to the licensed spectrum just auctioned off - that lie between channels 2 to 51 on analog television sets.

Google proposes exempting channels 36-38, in order to protect channel 37, which is used for "medical telemetry devices and radio astronomy services."

Whitt said that Google could use the "white spaces" to offer wireless service based on its Android open source operating system beginning in December 2009.

Google is part of the "White Spaces Coalition," a group of eight technology companies - including Microsoft, Dell, HP, Intel, Philips, Earthlink, and Samsung - which has been pushing the commission to open up the frequencies for a high-speed wireless network.

Television broadcasters have been cool to the idea, warning that opening up the "white spaces" could interfere with existing TV signals or complicate next year's transition from analog to digital broadcasting.

But Whitt sought to assuage those concerns by urging the commission to adopt new technologies such as "spectrum sensing," which would prevent signals from interfering or overlapping with each other.

Google's new wireless push comes just days after it was outbid by Verizon Wireless for coveted licenses to chunks of C block wireless spectrum. Although Google lost the bidding, it was successful in pushing the F.C.C. to approve to "open access" provisions for the spectrum, which require Verizon Wireless to allow consumers to mix and match wireless handsets and applications.

In an official Google blog posting on the auction's results, Whitt wrote that "although Google didn't pick up any spectrum licenses, the auction produced a major victory for American consumers."

"As a result of the auction, consumers whose devices use the C-block of spectrum soon will be able to use any wireless device they wish, and download to their devices any applications and content they wish," Whitt wrote.

by Sam Gustin