Google is gearing up to test drive superfast wireless broadband in 24 cities in the United States. According to reports, the company has sought urgent approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The search-engine giant is planning a new round of secret tests of wireless broadband delivery in the US aimed to compete with the existing telecom giants in the US. In a new filing with the FCC, Google has reportedly sought a special license to test wireless broadband technologies in the 3.5GHz band across 24 US locations for two years.
Commenting on the wireless broadband testing, Google revealed that the experiments they are planning to conduct would be used for the development of new technologies for the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS). The radio service operates in the 3.5GHz bands and will be used as a test bed for spectrum sharing.
As per sources, executives from Google Access, the main unit responsible for the design and deployment of Google Fiber have been seriously exploring the fixed wireless broadband for low-density areas. In these areas, costs prohibit lying of fiber.
Immediate approval of wireless broadband required
The sources close to FCC disclosed to us that the company has requested the immediate authorization of the license. They termed it as “granted expeditiously” to test drive the wireless broadband between 3.4GHz and 3.8GHz. If the CDRS service has to be tested then it should be between these radio frequencies, which are shared by the small-cell spectrum.
List of 24 locations
With the existing licenses for on-going tests in this band at various locations will expire in December, Google had applied for 24 locations spread across cities in California, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, Utah, and Virginia. Google is planning to test base stations including end-user devices with approved staff and contractors, who will be specially hired for this purpose.
Meanwhile, Google is intending to make use of the test wireless broadband to improve its Spectrum Access System (SAS) database. This is used to manage spectrum sharing in the 3.5GHz band. Earlier, Google had developed the SAS database for TV white-space spectrum sharing.
Google Fiber rollout delayed
In the meantime, a report from the San Jose Mercury News revealed that the rollout of Google’s Fiber has been delayed in few cities. This includes San Jose because of the sudden aborting of the fiber laying work in July due to unknown reasons.
Recently, Google had acquired the ISP Webpass. This indicates that the rollout of high-speed wireless broadband can be done without digging roads. The technology implemented by Webpass is suitable for high-density areas with plenty of apartment blocks.
