Petition the Lord with prayer.
The Doors
Google filed a proposal on Monday with the FCC calling on the agency to let companies allocate radio spectrum using the same kind of real-time auction that the search engine company now uses to sell advertisements, reports the NY Times.
The Google filing comes two days before a deadline for public comments set in an F.C.C. rule-making procedure for the sale of spectrum in the 700 MHz band, now largely used by UHF television broadcasters.“The driving reason we’re doing this is that there are not enough broadband options for consumers,” said Adam Kovacevich, a spokesman for Google’s policy office in Washington. “In general, it’s the belief of a lot of people in the company that spectrum is allocated in an inefficient manner.”
The Google proposal will be endorsed this week by one of the consortiums that is planning to bid in the spectrum auction: Frontline Wireless, an investor group founded by Reed E. Hundt, a former F.C.C. commissioner, with a number of Silicon Valley venture capitalists including the Google investors L. John Doerr and Ram Shriram.
Mr. Hundt said in an e-mail message: “We propose that one quarter of the capacity of the network that uses this spectrum must be sold not in a long-term service contract but instead in ongoing open auctions to any and all comers.”
According to Blair Levin, a telecommunications analyst with Stifel Nicolaus, the Google proposal is a “wonderful vision” that is of “worthy consideration” by FCC officials.
One significant issue in the debate is whether the F.C.C. will be able to meet a mandate in the digital television law calling for reallocation of the frequencies to public safety organizations while simultaneously making spectrum available for commercial applications.
.gif)
