Google is given to grand statements as it pushes its vision of how the web should look, but some of them do eventually translate into reality. In the run-up to the last US spectrum auction in early 2008, the search giant talked a great deal about a dynamic system of spectrum-on-demand, where all kinds of service providers could purchase access to airwaves, when and where they needed it, using a marketplace system. This was typical Google ‘ setting out an idealistic vision of a system that supported thousands of small providers and innovative services ‘ while actually pushing the giant’s own political agenda, to weaken the grip of large carriers on the mobile internet and to pass control, and web revenues, to Google itself via its search and advertising platforms.
Since then, Google continues to push its goals under the cloak of idealism ‘ as seen in its white spaces, fiber and Project Loon initiatives in emerging markets. It has had some success in wresting power over the mobile web experience from operators, though it also faces its own challenges in maintaining the lead in that experience and the revenues it generates (alternative search, advertising and location platforms from rivals such as Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Baidu are grave concerns). So the carriers may not be the brakes on Google’s power that they were in 2008, but they still, by and large, have the upper hand in ownership and control of spectrum.
The big disruption to that picture has come from the rise of unlicensed spectrum technologies for mainstream mobile and broadband activities. Wi-Fi is no longer a convenient but best-effort network, but in many cases a consumer’s first choice, for its speed, and integrated increasingly into mobile operators’ networks (see separate item on WBA survey). However, there will be cellcos which wish Wi-Fi had never appeared to transform users’ expectations of just how much speed and data capacity they should be able to get on their portable devices, and for a very small fee. The need to upgrade cellular technologies to meet similar expectations, and the transfer of mobile revenue and profit from the network to the application or service, have been hard to bear for most mobile carriers.
They have, to some extent, harnessed and tamed public Wi-Fi to help them with the transition, but the next big disruption to their established model will be spearheaded in unlicensed spectrum too, This is the dynamic approach to spectrum allocation, usage and fees, as envisioned by Google and others more than five years ago, and now being brought to reality by efforts in white spaces airwaves, and by spectrum marketplace experiments like that ‘ in Wi-Fi again ‘ by BandwidthX.
New tools, many based on web marketplace approaches, are making it possible to assign spectrum capacity on an on-demand basis, for particular user, provider, application or location. Carriers themselves are looking to use such tools to use their capacity more efficiently and to support new sources of revenue, such as premium rates when they guarantee high quality of service for certain users or apps. Some foresee a time when the LTE network will be used primarily for services where high quality must be guaranteed ‘ enterprise, vertical, premium consumers ‘ while Wi-Fi carries the rest of the load.
But the same tools that can help cellcos maximize the flexibility and usage of their spectrum can also usher in marketplaces that weaken the last bastion of their power, their control over guaranteed chunks of airwaves, in which every user, partner and app can be approved or denied. So far, mainstream licensed spectrum is still being allocated in the traditional way, via auction or beauty contest, in large chunks attached to multiyear licences, available and affordable for only three or four players per country in most cases.
A dynamic system under which a wholesaler, utility or government assigned capacity on-demand to thousands of players would take years to achieve, given the politics and technology barriers, but it is no longer inconceivable, or just an overblown Google vision promoted to bash the operators and set itself up as the leader of the revolution. Instead, some of the objections to such a scheme’s workability are already being met, out in the unlicensed Wild West, where free spectrum enables experimentation at far lower cost, risk and political manoeuvring than in cellular.
Three examples highlight the huge variety of approaches which emerging technologies are enabling. One is BandwidthX, the most prominent attempt to create a marketplace in Wi-Fi ‘ though its founder Dr Pertti Visuri says the platform, and the trading model on which it is based (itself the product of a Nobel prizewinner’s mind) could be adapted for licensed bands too. The start-up’s Bandwidth Market is initially taking a relatively conciliatory approach to cellcos, offering them the chance to buy Wi-Fi capacity on-demand, from a variety of participating hotspot owners.
This could save them the cost of building their own Wi-Fi networks, or could complement those, in order to ensure that they always have enough capacity to offload cellular data and deliver good QoS to their customers. But of course, the same mechanisms could be used by other players, including wireline and over-the-top, to help them compete with the cellcos.
The service allows participating WLan operators to sell capacity to mobile operators and MVNOs at specific times and locations. It works in a marketplace style, allowing customers to name their price and automatically connect their chosen devices. WISPs can offer their Wi-Fi capacity for sale at prices based on time, location and other parameters, while fees and policies for both buyers and sellers can be adjusted in real time according to conditions.
Bandwidth Market establishes a clearing price for each Wi-Fi capacity transaction. It says no changes are needed in Wi-Fi access points or mobile networks to participate though its application must be added to devices before trading. Visuri said: “Wi-Fi is abundant and inexpensive, but not adequately monetized. By enabling Wi-Fi micro-commerce, the BandwidthX platform ensures everybody in the Wi-Fi ecosystem is a winner.”
A second interesting example is the Globalstar effort in the US, which would effectively set up a privately controlled Wi-Fi network, which would then be leased to partners, and could even support an on-demand approach. The FCC has looked kindly but cautiously on the plan so far but if it gets the full go-ahead, new chairman Tom Wheeler should be aware he will be unleashing far more than a handy addition to total US mobile broadband capacity ‘ instead this will set a precedent for a new way of managing and monetizing spectrum.
Globalstar, which has been running trials with Amazon, proposes to deploy a wholesale Wi-Fi network in licensed satellite spectrum, using an emerging technology called TLPS (terrestrial low power service), which basically supports Wi-Fi, but in a licensed band. This network would host third party services which could use standard Wi-Fi devices, but in a private band with none of the interference risks of the usual Wi-Fi spectrum. As with BandwidthX, conventional carriers might be expected to be the first customers, given their desperate to add capacity (in cellcos’ case) or a wireless play (for wireline operators). However, the weapon could also be turned against them, especially if Globalstar pursued a more dynamic model, and/or gained Amazon, with its non-carrier model, as its main partner.
Currently Globalstar only has an experimental licence from the FCC to test its Wi-Fi over satellite idea. But if it becomes a commercial reality, it could add 22MHz of capacity to the US mobile broadband store. The operator is currently licensed to provide mobile satellite service in the ‘Lower Big LEO’ band at 1610-1618.725MHz for uplink operations and the ‘Upper Big LEO’ band, in 2483.5-2500MHz, for downlink. The TLPS network would run in the upper band, essentially adding a fourth non-overlapping channel (Channel 14) to the upper reaches of the 2.4GHz licence exempt spectrum. It would also make use of a small amount of unlicensed ISM frequencies at 2473-2483.5MHz. The scheme would see Globalstar convert about 80% of its frequencies to terrestrial use, as Dish and LightSquared have also aimed to do, chasing the richer rewards of mobile broadband compared to the satellite market.
The third, and most international, of the steps towards dynamic spectrum is the effort in the white spaces in the TV bands, which have been opened up for mobile broadband in the US, with other countries, led by the UK, set to follow. These low frequencies support long range signals with good indoor penetration and so represent a potentially valuable option for rural services or new ‘internet of things’ applications ‘ in both cases, possibly wresting those important growth areas from the licensed carriers and allowing others to take the lead roles.
There are many obstacles ‘ getting the white spaces opened up round the world; driving a device ecosystem with roaming potential; sorting out remaining issues of possible interference with incumbent broadcasters; dealing with the fact that there are wildly varying amounts of spaces available in different areas, according to how TV channels were set up. One of the most critical issues is which standard and which application will prevail ‘ this is free spectrum, so could theoretically support several, but its low frequency means it has limited capacity and a free-for-all could result in poor QoS for everybody. There is a sense that a dominant service should take the lead, as Wi-Fi has in 5GHz, avoiding some of the congestion issues of the over-populated 2.4GHz band. This could be Wi-Fi itself, with extensions to suit it to a dynamic spectrum environment; or the 802.22 standard, already designed around shared spectrum and geared to rural access; or one of the M2M-focused protocols such as Neul’s Weightless.
Whatever models prevail, the white spaces provide an important testing ground for the idea of spectrum that is shared between traditional licensees ‘ in this case the broadcasters ‘ and a range of other users, whose services can come and go in the frequencies according to demand. The FCC is already examining the results of the first white spaces deployments as it considers other sharing options, particularly to free up underused capacity in some government bands.
For Google and other would-be shapers of the future web, like Microsoft, white spaces are also a valuable stalking horse. By funding and supporting roll-outs in the US and in emerging markets, they can drive home the principles which will suit their models ‘ increased, low cost access to web services; support for a wide range of service providers rather than a few powerful carriers. In this web, Google and its rivals each hope to sit as the controlling spider, unifying a fragmented world via the search box and the browser.
The emerging markets are particularly important because web usage is more immature and, given the huge growth potential, it is important to Google to place itself at the center of the experience. With the threat of local alternatives seizing the initiative, one way to ensure its own position is to fund the networks themselves. The search giant has led several white spaces trials in emerging markets, and most recently announced the results of one in South Africa’s Cape Town, where it completed a six-month project, in cooperation with Carlson Wireless and with local partners CSIR Meraka Institute, TENE, e-Schools Network and WAPA. The trial ran in 10 schools in the area and aimed to decide whether the white spaces could deliver broadband access without interfering with TV broadcast. This will be important to encourage the regulator to open up the spectrum.
White spaces trials are also being carried out in various markets in Africa and Asia under the auspices of Microsoft, as the two giants shift their battle to ever wider arenas. Google, however, is far more inclined to invest heavily in actual infrastructure to drive its ambitions. This year has seen it announce Project Loon, which will use ‘stratellites’ or tethered balloons to deliver internet access to underserved areas.
This is complemented by Project Link, which will see Google-driven partnerships building out fiber in underserved areas in order to support local service providers and institutions ‘ another twist on the idea of establishing a wholesale system that can be shared by many organizations, more flexibly than via traditional MVNOs, and excluding the established carriers ‘ while usually gaining government and public approval because of the undeniable contribution to social and economic growth. “Africa is home to more than a billion people and is also the fastest growing continent. But only 16% of people are connected to the internet,” pointed out Kai Wulff, Google access field director, in a blog post. Project Link kicked off in Ugandan capital Kampala, where most people only have what the search firm calls ‘pre-broadband speeds’. Wulff wrote: ‘Some parts of the chain are already strong: undersea cables are bringing data to Africa’s shores and mobile providers are expanding services across the continent. We’ve now built quality infrastructure in between these points to deliver the speed and capacity that supports the latest and greatest of the web.”
Microsoft may not be as eager to invest in infrastructure, but it has a strong desire to extend internet access, and its own user experience and services, far and wide. As such, it has also been a white spaces supporter, and a key mover behind dynamic spectrum in general. In particular, it drives the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, which in the past week, interestingly enough, signed up Google and Facebook as members too (along with Texas Instruments). The DSA is calling on governments to make unused spectrum available for dynamic access, support technology neutral regulations and, in the long term, make dynamic access the default mode for radio spectrum. At a summit in Thailand, the Alliance pointed to the ability to deploy emergency systems in flexible bands like white spaces to help respond to natural disasters ‘ a pilot white spaces network in the Philippines, run by Microsoft and partners, was modified for response to the October earthquake in the country, said the firm.
And while dynamic and on-demand usage is currently focused on fairly traditional spectrum and networks, being used in new ways, a recently awarded Google patent throws light on how its various broadband efforts might come together to create an even bigger pool of flexible capacity to connect the rest of the planet. The patent is for dynamically addressing bandwidth demand using access points attached to high altitude balloons, particularly a method for repositioning the balloons in order to respond to a projected change in bandwidth demand in a specified area. Natural disasters are given as the example, but of course, in light of Google’s views on spectrum sharing and allocation, there is far broader, and more commercial, potential too.
Of course, we can be cynical about giant firms which use humanitarian and idealistic efforts as stalking horses for their commercial platforms, but at least they are driving forward changes which will help connect the poor of the world as well as opening up new services and choices for established consumers. Which is more than most traditional operators ever really tried to do, until forced to innovate by their web challengers.
Google opens white spaces database to all:
Google has been a major supporter of using the white spaces in TV spectrum bands for licence-exempt wireless broadband. Having been in the vanguard of campaigns for the FCC to open up these frequencies, it was appointed by the US regulator as one of a group of firms to run a database of the available spectrum. Now it will open up that database to all-comers to make it easier for users to identify free airwaves, and stimulate the ecosystem.
The white spaces are being examined worldwide as a new source of unlicensed spectrum which could provide new, affordable capacity for broadband services, especially in unserved rural areas. However, there is little consensus on the best use for the spectrum ‘ various standards from Wi-Fi to the IEEE’s 802.22 to Neul’s Weightless are vying to use the frequencies, for various applications from free consumer access to M2M services.
Google, in its activities in the US and in emerging markets, has mainly focused on bringing better and cheaper broadband access to underserved populations. However, since its database came online in July, it has also been testing industrial and M2M applications with GE, which has a huge ‘Industry Internet’ program.
It believes its latest move in the US will help stimulate an ecosystem of cheap devices. Any device maker can now search its local area for unused frequencies and then claim them, enabling it to comply easily with the FCC rules to avoid interference with incumbent broadcast users in the band. The search giant is also offering a developer API (application programming interface) so that anybody can access the database, and incorporate that access into apps. Under its new system, device makers can go further and create commercial accounts, enabling them to register their transmitters in the database.
The first to sign up was white space gadget specialist Adaptrum, which is working with the Air.U consortium to offer services around West Virginia University’s campus, with a plan to expand the offering to college campuses nationwide.