Google: "Wi-Fi 2.0" Plan Would Benefit Public -- and Our Bottom Line

Sam Gustin says: Google is a master at portraying the public interest as aligned with its own.

In the latest example, the company is pulling out all the stops in its campaign to open up the unused "white spaces" in the radio spectrum between television channels for new wireless networks.

And although the company frames the issue in terms of the benefit to the public, it isn't trying to hide the fact that it stands to profit if its agenda succeeds.

The company says that the frequencies could be used to create "Wi-Fi 2.0" or "Wi-Fi on steroids." In a letter to the Federal Communications Commision earlier this year, Google lawyer Richard Whitt wrote that the unused airwaves offer a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband access to all Americans."

The "white spaces" are unlicensed spectrum - as opposed to the licensed spectrum sold off in the F.C.C.'s 700Mhz wireless auction earlier this year - that lie between channels 2 to 51 on analog television sets.

Today, Google launched "Free The Airwaves," a website designed to advanced its agenda for the spectrum.

Although Google has pushed the issue as a matter of public interest, the company acknowledges that it has a commercial interest as well.

"Make no mistake," the company says on the website, "open access to this unused bandwidth would surely be good for our own bottom line (not to mention those of many of our industry peers); better access to the internet means more people doing Web searches and using our software products."

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

But television broadcasters have been skeptical of the plan, warning that running a Wi-Fi network on the "white spaces" could interfere with existing TV signals.

The Federal Communciations Commission is expected to rule on the matter in the next few months.