Google Lobbies For 3.5 GHz Band To Provide Cheaper Wireless

By Chuck Seegert, Ph.D.

With the intent of making alternative wireless services available, Google is lobbying the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to open up the mostly vacant 3.5 GHz spectrum. Vast amounts of low-cost bandwidth could be available at a price that would undercut services from larger carriers. As prices for access to traditional wireless spectrums continue to soar, this alternative could be a boon for consumers.

Google appears to be targeting wireless and high-speed internet technologies. In some cities, the tech giant has rolled out a wired internet service called Google Fiver. The company also recently requested permission to experiment in the millimeter range spectrum. Millimeter bandwidths promise to provide high-speed, low-cost wireless data transfer that could also undercut traditional internet service providers.

One of Google’s latest initiatives is lobbying the FCC to free up spectrum around the 3.5 GHz range, according to a recent story from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Traditional wireless carriers have little interest in these airwaves because the distance they can carry signals is limited. One application where they may be successful, however, is the transfer of large amounts of data over smaller distances. For example, they could be used in urban areas to transmit data — similar to the way that existing Wi-Fi networks do — with potentially more availability and bandwidth.

Google has pressed hard for these changes, engaging the FCC in at least 10 meetings since 2013, according to the WSJ. In addition, the company has filed more than one hundred pages of highly technical documents in support of the idea, which may play a role in whether the FCC finalizes new rules related to the airwaves in question this year. Somewhat predictably, traditional wireless carriers have given the idea of new, lower cost bandwidth lackluster support. Some, like AT&T, have even pushed for a long transition period that would delay implementation of the new airwaves.

While the potential benefit of the 3.5 GHz spectrum for these new uses is promising, the implementation of its use will entail certain hurdles, according to the WSJ. Phones and hardware will have to be designed to interface in this spectrum. This area of the spectrum is also one used by the Navy, and it claims that the coastal areas will need to be excluded from service of this kind.

Google, however, has answers to these objections and proposes a three-tier access approach. The government users would get first-tier access, while companies could apply to the FCC for exclusive access in smaller geographic regions in the second tier. The third tier would be open for anyone to use, much like the spectrum use for garage door openers, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

Though there may be significant challenges, a successful outcome may represent more secure internet freedoms and greater access for consumers, a notable goal that Google appears to support.

“We are helping to make Internet bandwidth more abundant,” Craig Barratt, Google’s senior VP of Access and Energy, wrote in a September 2014 FCC filing. “It is both workable and economically desirable to manage a broadband network without prioritization and consistent with open Internet principles.”