Google to Bid on Old TV Spectrum
December 3, 2007 | By Raymond T. Hightower
Google will bid at the FCC’s analog television spectrum auction in January 2008. If you remember watching TV in the 1960’s and 70’s, you know that old TV signals go through walls very well. Google could use those frequencies to reach Internet customers directly, completely bypassing the mobile phone carriers. Can you hear me now?
FCC Control
Among other things, the FCC ensures that we can tune to Channel 11 and not get interference from rogue signal operators. With the advent of digital, high-definition (HD) television, the old analog TV spectrum is no longer useful. For television, that is.
Google Sees an Opportunity
Google has made no public announcement of their plans for the frequencies, should they win the bid. However, given that this is a part of the radio spectrum that travels through walls and over long distances, and given that Google is a player in the Internet and advertising businesses, one could speculate that they plan to do something with wireless Internet & advertising. They could bypass cell phone providers entirely.
The Rest of the Google Puzzle
Let us not forget that Google has data centers all over the world. Reports indicate that they’ve also bought unused fiber optic cable (at post dot-com firesale prices) to connect those data centers. Unused capacity on those cables could be used to link Google-owned wireless towers, theoretically.
What will Google do next? January will be an exciting month.