Google Pushes for Rules to Aid Wireless Plans
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The Internet giant, which may bid for a swath of airwaves, is lobbying for regulations to support a vision that could change how cellphones are used.
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(InfoWorld) - With wider national coverage than either company could have had on its own, Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. say they can achieve on their joint WiMax network some of whatÂ Google Inc. and others want to seeÂ in the prized 700MHz band. TheÂ companies announced Thursday they will link their respective WiMax wireless broadband networks to give subscribers a seamless roaming experience across territories that eventually will cover 300 million U.S. residents. The network will deliver between 2M bps (bits per second) and 4M bps downstream and about half that speed upstream, they said. Sprint and Clearwire plan to use WiMax so that subscribers can choose among a wide range of devices built to the open standard on which the technology is based. In addition, they intend to let users access any application or service on the Internet, said Atish Gude, senior vice president of mobile broadband operations at Sprint. The upcoming auction of 700MHz radio spectrum around the U.S. has sparked a fierce debate between traditional carriers and Google Inc., Frontline Wireless LLC and others over how that spectrum should be used. Current mobile operators generally sell a limited set of devices locked to their networks and favor their own applications among the offerings their customers can access on their phones. Google told the FCC on Friday it won't bid unless the government requires any-device, any-application networks. It also wants a rule forcing the winners to sell wholesale network access to other service providers. Sprint doesn't have plans for wholesale access. Sprint, which announced its WiMax plans last year, said Thursday it owns spectrum licenses for the WiMax band that cover 185 million U.S. residents. Clearwire has spectrum in the same band to serve 115 million people. The combined network should be fairly comprehensive, covering urban, suburban and rural areas across the country, which today has a population just over 302 million, the Census Bureau estimates. After "soft" launches in Chicago and Washington, D.C., at the end of this year and commercial availability starting next year, the companies together aim to reach 100 million people by the end of 2008. This is the same 2008 goal Sprint had given previously by itself, but it was an aggressive goal then and is now a conservative estimate, Gude said. The companies did not estimate when the full network would be completed. Given the higher frequency Sprint and Clearwire plan to use, at 2.5GHz, their network is likely to need more base stations than a similar network using 700MHz, which travels over long distances and through walls more easily. Clearwire already operates a wireless broadband service and has been planning to convert it to standard mobile WiMax, which is only now emerging as a commercial technology. The company is backed by heavy hitters including Intel Corp. and Motorola Inc. Sprint, struggling against larger rivals AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless Inc., could use Clearwire's helping hand. The deal may let Sprint realize its WiMax dream at less expense, said IDC analyst Godfrey Chua. There seems to be little overlap between the two carriers' licenses, so the partnership won't really hurt competition and is likely to win government approval, Chua said. The first users will access the network with standalone modems, notebook add-on cards or PCs and smaller Ultra Mobile PCs with embedded modems, Sprint said. But it sees mobility as the key driver of the network and believes WiMax handsets will arrive by 2009, Gude said. However, Chua thinks ever-faster cellular technologies have the edge for mobility. The Sprint-Clearwire network will compete mainly against DSL (digital subscriber line) and cable modem services, with the advantage that subscribers can set up a notebook away from home and enjoy the same service. It could significantly boost broadband competition, he said. "It's making the world a little bit more interesting now," Chua said. Â
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Verizon Wireless has asked a federal  court to overturn open-access rules that the U.S. Federal  Communications Commission is imposing on the winner of valuable  wireless airwaves to be auctioned this winter.
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AT&amp;T hasn&#39;t decided whether it will bid for the highly desirable 700MHz band because it doesn&#39;t know if it can build a profitable business, given the open-access rules set for the wireless spectrum by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in July.Calling the rules &quot;interesting,&quot; AT&amp;T&#39;s CEO Randall Stephenson said the company is hard at work crunching numbers and analyzing business scenarios, but hasn&#39;t reached a conclusion yet.&quot;Is there a business model there? I&#39;m not sure if there is or not,&quot; he said Friday at the&#160;Web 2.0 Summit, where he answered questions from conference chair John Battelle and from audience members.The FCC conditions, which include&#160;open-access rules on a third of the spectrum, have been a major source of controversy.The winner of 22MHz of spectrum must allow any wireless devices to connect to the network, permitting wireless telephone customers to use handset devices from other carriers. The winning bidder also can&#39;t block or slow down wireless and Web content from competitors.Some telecom carriers wanted no conditions, while some consumer advocacy groups and Google wanted the FCC to require that winning bidders also resell the spectrum at wholesale rates to competitors, something the FCC didn&#39;t adopt.The FCC is scheduled to auction 62MHz of spectrum in the 700MHz band beginning in January. The spectrum is ideal for long-range wireless telephone and broadband services, with signals that travel up to four times farther than in higher spectrum bands.&quot;It&#39;s a huge opportunity. It&#39;s beachfront property. When it comes to buying spectrum, it&#39;s the best you&#39;re going to find for a long time,&quot; Stephenson said.Data consumption on wireless networks is growing fourfold year over year, so a company&#160;such as&#160;AT&amp;T needs to bulk up on spectrum to keep up with the demand, he said.&quot;It&#39;s very obvious we&#39;re going to have to add to our spectrum holdings,&quot; he said.That&#39;s why AT&amp;T earlier this month reached an agreement to&#160;buy 12MHz of high-speed wireless spectrum&#160;in the 700MHz band from Aloha Partners for $2.5 billion.&quot;It&#39;s the first time, I think, that we&#39;ve ever paid $2.5 billion for a company that had no revenue,&quot; Stephenson said.The Aloha spectrum covers 196 million U.S. residents, including 72 of the 100 largest markets in the United States.In other matters, Stephenson said he was very satisfied with the&#160;iPhone deal between his company and Apple.&quot;I&#39;m not sure I could have asked for much more out of it than what we got,&quot; he said.Asked to comment on the decision to use the slower EDGE network for the iPhone, Stephenson said it was a request from Apple CEO Steve Jobs.&quot;He wanted a broad ubiquitous data network. The EDGE network is the only data network that covers the entire United States,&quot; he said. The situation will improve as AT&amp;T upgrades markets to 3G, he said.Stephenson acknowledged that AT&amp;T&#39;s directory assistance business is being challenged by ad-supported options from Internet companies&#160;such as&#160;Google.&quot;We better get our advertising-supported [directory assistance] model up fast,&quot; he said, adding that AT&amp;T is building such a service internally.On a lighter note, he said he&#39;s &quot;envious&quot; of Google and the success it has had with its business model. &quot;It&#39;s a great gig if you can get it,&quot; he said.(Grant Gross in Washington, D.C. contributed with this story.)
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U.S. airline travelers may be able  to use their mobile telephones as well as get high-speed  Internet service while in the air under plans launched by U.S.  communications regulators on Wednesday.
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Major mobile voice and data carriers in the United States have pledged to open their networks to outside handsets and applications, but regulators and customers need to be vigilant to make sure those promises are fulfilled, one member of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said.Carriers including AT&amp;T and Verizon Wireless have promised to open up their networks, but the FCC will need to watch the prices that carriers charge customers who bring their own devices to the networks, said the FCC&#39;s Michael Copps, speaking Tuesday at a New America Foundation forum. The FCC will also need to monitor the complexity of certification for new devices and applications, he said.Mobile carriers still dictate what features can be used on most phones, with Wi-Fi features unavailable on most U.S. mobile phones because of carrier opposition, Copps said. The FCC needs &quot;trust but verify&quot; the open network promises from the carriers, Copps said.&quot;I hope it is as good as it sounds,&quot; he added. The FCC should step in if the carriers don&#39;t live up to their promises, Copps added.Carriers have in recent months taken steps to block text messages and some types of applications, Copps added. They need to pledge to &quot;no blocking, no locking, and no discriminatory degradation of service,&quot; he said.Copps, a Democrat, seemed to disagree with the FCC&#39;s Republican chairman Kevin Martin, who was quoted in The New York Times as saying the issue of open networks has &quot;melted away&quot; as AT&amp;T, Verizon Wireless, and other carriers have moved to open their networks.Advocates have been pushing for customers to be able to take their mobile devices from carrier to carrier for about a year. Weeks after&#160;Google announced its Open Handset Alliance&#160;in November,&#160;Verizon Wireless announced it would open its network&#160;to outside devices and applications by the end of this year.About a week after the Verizon announcement, AT&amp;T announced that it&#39;s long been its policy to allow outside devices and applications onto its mobile network.But Copps and critics of the carriers said Tuesday it&#39;s too early to tell if the carriers are serious about open networks. For example, mobile carriers could discourage customers from bringing their own devices by charging higher prices, Copps said.Carriers have often argued that they need to sign up customers using lengthy contracts because they&#39;re subsidizing the cost of a mobile phone. But if customers bring their own phones, there&#39;s no carrier subsidy, so&#160;the plan should cost less, said Robert Frieden, a professor of telecommunications and law at Penn State University.Right now, &quot;you don&#39;t get a discount for bringing your own phone,&quot; said Frieden, author of a New America Foundation paper calling on the FCC to regulate open network access.Some of the same companies pledged to offer stand-alone DSL service more than three years ago, and in many cases, customers have to fight through layers of customer service to get DSL without accompanying wireline phone service, added Christopher Libertelli, senior director for regulatory and government affairs at Skype.A Skype handset that allows calls to be made over Wi-Fi or a mobile network is available in parts of Europe and in Hong Kong but not the United States because carriers have opposed it, he said.&quot;Sitting here, we can&#39;t predict how these press release will turn into real consumer rights,&quot; Libertelli said.But representatives of Verizon Wireless, AT&amp;T, and T-Mobile said they were serious about offering customers choices of devices and applications.Verizon Wireless wants to encourage new types of devices and work with developers and handset makers to create innovation, said Anthony Lewis, vice president of the company&#39;s Open Development Initiative. &quot;This will not work if I dictate to my customers,&quot; he said.AT&amp;T will monitor devices for bandwidth hogging and security, but otherwise, the company is open to outside devices, said Robert Quinn Jr., AT&amp;T&#39;s senior vice president for federal regulatory affairs. AT&amp;T customers want to be able to use more devices on the network, he said.Asked, however, if AT&amp;T would unlock Apple&#39;s iPhone to use on other networks, Quinn said the company couldn&#39;t do that.
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Drawing upon its clout as the Internet's most powerful company, Google Inc. is calling on businesses and regulators throughout the world to set international standards for protecting consumer privacy online and offline.
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Blog: Google announces a willingness to commit $4.6 billion to the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming wireless spectrum 700MHz band auction - with strings attached.
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Wireless carriers are fighting state and local laws that, in their view, force them to "hide" government taxes and fees from their customers. So far, they haven't been totally successful.
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Google says it will compete in an upcoming wireless spectrum auction, if the government agrees to certain rules.
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Airline travelers may be able to use  their mobile telephones and other wireless devices in the air  under a proposal to ease the current ban put forward by U.S.  communications regulators on Wednesday.
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Verizon Wireless' objections to rules requiring soon-to-be-auctioned wireless spectrum to be open to all mobile devices are anti-consumer, Google says.
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Blog: Government officials are writing rules to determine how to use extremely valuable wireless spectrum that will be auctioned in September to the highest bidder.
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Blog: The FCC is writing rules to determine how to use extremely valuable wireless spectrum that will be auctioned in September to the highest bidder.
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Although its ambitious plan to provide free Wi-Fi for the city of San Francisco is on hold, Google trumpets its success providing free internet service to the much smaller city of Mountain View, some 30 miles to the south.
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Google is supposedly in serious talks with Verizon Wireless about using its upcoming Google-powered phones on its network, but a deal between the two companies is pretty unlikely.
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Verizon Wireless, preparing to open its network to devices it doesn&#39;t sell, will tell developers how to build products to run on its network at a two-day conference in New York in March.Late last year, the nation&#39;s second-largest carrier announced it would&#160;let consumers use equipment from third parties&#160;as long as it meets minimum technical standards for operating safely on Verizon&#39;s network. Verizon also said it would let them use any application on those devices. The move, expected by the end of this year, would represent a break from the traditionally closed networks of U.S. mobile operators. They typically sell phones themselves, with their own applications loaded, and only after dictating configurations and carrying out rigorous testing.Verizon&#39;s Open Development Conference, which will run March 19-20, will focus mostly on the requirements for devices that would run on the Verizon network, the company said. Verizon had said last year that it would publish technical standards for the developer community by early 2008. More information about the company&#39;s open initiative can be found here.Verizon&#39;s move was widely seen as anticipating the openness requirements attached to a part of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission&#39;s 700MHz spectrum auction, scheduled to begin later this month.&#160;Verizon is among the companies planning to bid&#160;on the prized frequencies, which are expected to reach longer distances and penetrate walls better than the cellular bands used in the U.S. today. Google, which has advocated more open networks, and Verizon rival AT&amp;T also plan to participate. Sprint Nextel plans to turn to third-party vendors for devices to run on its WiMax high-speed mobile network, due to launch in April.&#160;