Will White Spaces Save the World? - Page 2

Rep. Jay Inlee (D-WA)

Page 2 of 2

Google would benefit

Page has admitted, perhaps obviously, that Google has a lot to gain by more people connecting to the Internet. He said that if the FCC were to free up the spectrum in question, Google, Microsoft and scores of other technology companies would quickly pony up the hundreds of millions of dollars to bring devices to market that would be guaranteed to not interfere with broadcast signals.

"All that the FCC needs to say is that we will allow people to use the spectrum in an unlicensed way if their devices don't interfere. Literally -- that one sentence -- that's all that needs to be said."

In order to avoid interference, the new class of devices would come equipped with a geo-sensing ability to automatically detect and avoid television spectrum that was being used.

But the speakers generally tried to brush the technical issues aside as trivial, preferring instead to focus on the great social and economic good they claim would result from the new network. At times, the issue took on the dimensions of a moral imperative.

"As a matter of principle, you always have to decide who's on the good side and who's on the bad side," said Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.). "It is clear that the white hats are on the side of white spaces."

Inslee was the only lawmaker in attendance, but he was surrounded by like-minded advocates who offered impassioned pleas of support for the wireless network that seemed an elixir for so many of society's ills.

Mark Lloyd, vice president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, explained how the network could reach through old, thick-walled building in urban centers that are resistant to wiring projects and whose residents are often unable to afford commercial broadband access.

Wally Bowen, executive director of the Mountain Area Information Network, a group that champions rural broadband access, said the white-space spectrum could deliver reliable, high-speed access in remote areas with limited service from incumbent providers.

Similar benefits would come for K-12 schools, community colleges, and first responders. Neeraj Srivastava, Dell's director of technology policy, described new applications that would enable reliable videoconferencing and telemedicine from remote locations, as well as delivering on the long-deferred dream of linking up the audio and video equipment in a home. And on went the list of promises.

Of course, from Google's standpoint, the timing is not a coincidence. Yesterday, Page and fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin were on hand in New York for the long-awaited unveiling of the first mobile device powered by the Android operating system, an open-source project led by Google.

Opening up inexpensive access to mobile broadband spectrum that would support any device, including future iterations of T-Mobile's Android-based G1 phone, would certainly funnel more revenue into Google's coffers.

But then again, it's a rare issue these days that Google and Microsoft find themselves agreeing on.