Sidecut Reports

Google is upping the ante in the ongoing White Spaces issue, announcing today a public advocacy campaign designed to put pressure on the FCC and Washington lawmakers to free up the so-called “white spaces” of wireless spectrum that exists between broadcast TV channels. While the jury is still out on whether this idea can work technically to everyone’s satisfaction, there’s little doubt that finding more spectrum for broadband communications here in the U.S. is a good idea.

While some folks like Om Malik are pointing a cynical eye at Google’s real intentions, I can’t see how opening the debate on this and other matters broadband is anything but good. If we simply listened to incumbent possessors of spectrum on why it’s too risky to try anything new, we might never have had the Wi-Fi revolution happen the way it did. And sure, Google’s Free the Airwaves idea might produce a lot more silly home-cooked video, but if it ultimately opens up another broadband pipe in this country of duopoly providers, it’s worth the effort.

And if you’re a veteran of D.C. telecom lobbying battles, you know that Google’s new group is light-years different from the telecom “front” organizations that hide their real intentions and backers; on the Google public policy blog product manager Minnie Ingersoll is pretty straightforward when it comes to Google’s motivations:

Google has a clear business interest in expanding access to the web. There’s no doubt that if these airwaves are opened up to unlicensed use, more people will be using the Internet. That’s certainly good for Google (not to mention many of our industry peers) but we also think that it’s good for consumers.

Before any of the next-generation ideas in the white spaces can take place, however, the spectrum needs to be freed up. As we noted in our recent QuickCut Report on WiMax Spectrum, there isn’t a lot of spectrum available right now at the 700 MHz frequency, which is where AT&T and Verizon are planning to launch their so-called 4G networks. So why not free up the white spaces, or at least ask more questions why not? Sure it may mean more money for Google, but in these times of pending metered broadband that seems like a weak reason to oppose the idea.

With yet another “people familiar with the talks” sourcing, the Wall Street Journal is nevertheless reporting that Comcast and Time Warner Cable are now the latest sugar daddies lining up to save WiMax from the not-so-successful clutches of Sprint and Clearwire.

We’ll skip most of the details because we have heard such reports from this same reputable outlet before, and they haven’t materialized. Past rumored bacon-savers Intel and Google reappear here, though in this report Comcast is purportedly the leading funder, to the tune of $1 billion. Google, which seems more interested lately in talking about wireless networks instead of actually spending money on them, is reported to be in with a few hundred million.

We’ll believe all this when we see it, which may indeed happen next week in Vegas where Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is scheduled to give a keynote at the CTIA wireless show. Stay tuned!

(Even though he probably shouldn’t be up late at night blogging, Om nevertheless put together a nice compilation of WiMax posts here.)

Since rules for the ongoing 700 MHz spectrum auction prohibit participants from talking about pretty much anything, it may be some time before we hear the full story behind the last-minute collapse of Frontline Wireless, the Reed Hundt/John Doerr-backed attempt to create a new national wireless broadband provider.

Harold Feld over at Wetmachine last week opened up the can of worms asking whether or not former Nextel chief Morgan O’Brien killed Frontline, citing some anonymous sources close to the proceedings. It’s pretty deep into the insider-baseball details, but basically from the sounds of it O’Brien — who had a similar plan to Frontline’s called Cyren Call — may have mucked up the works via his attempts to become the broadband negotiating agent for public-service concerns.

Having seen O’Brien in action when he pitched the Cyren Call idea, all I can say is that he’s a hell of a salesman. I can also say that he has no shortage of enemies in the telecom-o-sphere. Should O’Brien be the reason for Frontline’s collapse — and the apparent complete lack of interest by any bidders in the D block of spectrum — there’s gonna be some ’splainin to do.

Feld, for one, calls for the FCC to halt the auction while it investigates, but I doubt that will happen. Susan Crawford (thanks for the pointer Susan) wonders what will become of the D Block should it go unauctioned, which looks like it might happen.

Anyone want to bet that we’ll be talking about this a bit in Boulder next month?