Google and the White Space Hindered by the Demise of Municipal Wi-Fi

Implications: The Google proposal for the TV white spaces as unused spectrum to enable ubiquitous wireless broadband will be hindered by the demise of municipal Wi-Fi in U.S. cities.

Analysis: Google’s recommendation to the FCC for the TV white spaces asserts that the spectrum will go unused and has the potential for affordable and ubiquitous wireless broadband.  An issue will be the failure of U.S. municipal Wi-Fi to achieve the same goals of widespread service to under-served areas.  Municipal Wi-Fi had three models: 1) Anchor tenant, 2) Advertising subsidized, and 3) Subscriber base.  In cities such as Houston and Corpus Christi, the city governments had launched the initial service and contracted with EarthLink to be an anchor tenant.  For Anaheim, the city had a fiber backhaul from the former Spectranet/FirstWorld and offered to EarthLink to build out the Wi-Fi access.  With its Disney tourist traffic, Anaheim appeared to have Wi-Fi potential for the advertising model.  But most cities deploying municipal Wi-Fi could not build a subscriber base of ongoing users.   The success of the Wireless Philadelphia program is a package of laptop, training and support that created recurring users in low-income areas.  
For the TV signal white spaces, Google will face the same challenge of justifying how the spectrum build out can attract long-standing users.  Google is effectively promoting the willingness to provide technical support for Motorola’s technology that will minimize interference with TV broadcast signals.  But Google’s pitch for a “Wi-Fi 2.0” will be questionable as existing Wi-Fi locations are being underutilized.   AT&T, T-Mobile and Starbucks are pushing their customers to hotspots with free offers.  Google does not have a wireless network, mobile devices or a Web browser and might be preparing for competition from the Microsoft takeover of Yahoo.  For the white space signals to become a business proposition, Google will depend on the Android platform for compelling applications that generate a significant frequency-of-use on the spectrum.