[governance]

[yehudakatz at mailinator.com]

I have a vicarious question,

If Google take the 700mhz spectrum and digitizes it (migrates from analog to
digital) ,
-	Who really governs the jurisdiction of the spectrum ? –

The FCC traditionally regulates ‘emission-transmissions’,  (…vs…) where Icann
regulates ‘packet-emissions’ where packets are subject to design and
distribution.

Within this ‘gray-area’ is there a question of Regulatory Authority, of this
transmission-medium?

Scratch my itch.

--

Ref.:

Google Readies Wireless Bid
Google may make a solo bid for frequencies to run a wireless network, but
analysts say it needs a carrier partner.
Peter Sayer, IDG News Service
Saturday, November 17, 2007 06:00 AM PST
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139762-c,google/article.html

Google is making the necessary preparations to bid for wireless spectrum in an
auction be held in the U.S. in January -- but it will likely need a carrier
partner to help build a network to use it, analysts said Friday.

The spectrum, between 698MHz and 806MHz, and collectively called the 700MHz
band, is currently used for analog TV broadcasts. It is due to be freed up for
other uses, such as operating mobile telecommunications networks, by 2009. The
U.S. Federal Communications Commission plans to auction off the right to use
that spectrum on Jan. 24, and bidders must declare their intention to
participate by Dec. 3.

In July, Google said it would commit a minimum of US$4.6 billion to bid for a
license to use the spectrum, if the FCC set certain conditions on the licenses.
Those conditions included giving people the freedom to choose what applications
and networks they use with the phones they bought, and giving service providers
the freedom to connect with those networks and buy wholesale minutes from
network owners on reasonable terms. 

Google is still making "the necessary preparations" for a bid, a company
representative said Friday. The company is planning to finance that bid alone,
without partners, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Laying out that kind of money for spectrum -- and even paying for the
construction of a wireless network to use it -- would present no great problem
to Google, which, as of Sept. 30, had $13.1 billion in cash and cash
equivalents on hand.

But analysts are skeptical of the benefit to Google of going it alone.

"Wireless spectrum and network management are nowhere near Google's core
competency. Its competence is in one market, online advertising," said Emma
Mohr McClune, principal analyst with Current Analysis.

That sentiment was echoed by Jan Dawson, a vice president at market analyst
Ovum Ltd.

"Anything other than search at the minute seems like a move in the wrong
direction," said Dawson. With its focus on search-based advertising, Google's
financial metrics are "phenomenally better" than those that even the best
mobile network operators can achieve, he said. "You have to wonder why a
company would diversify into a market like that."

Google's goal may not be to make money from operating the network, though: it
could simply be a lever to get its applications into the hands of more mobile
phone owners. 

It has already taken steps in this direction, offering versions of its Web
applications for Apple's iPhone, and launching the Open Handset Alliance to
promote its Android open software stack for mobile devices. 

"The commonality between all those moves is to get their services running on
mobile devices," said Adam Leach of Ovum.

Building a wireless network is too much for Google to attempt alone, say the
analysts: the company should seek partners as it has in the handset market. 

A carrier partner "is essential to building out and running a network. The core
issue is the operations and maintenance of this new network. ... It is not
trivial to build and run a telecommunications company," said Bill Ho, senior
analyst at Current Analysis. 

If Google is to partner with an operator it could choose Sprint, some analysts
suggested. The two have already agreed to partner on WiMax services.

Partnering with Google could also be an opportunity for an experienced operator
not yet present in the U.S. to enter that market, suggested Dawson. Possible
candidates include Orange, a subsidiary of France Tilicom with networks in
France, Poland, Spain, and the U.K., or Japan's NTT DoCoMo.

The U.S. is not the only country with plans to auction off analog television
spectrum for new uses: The U.K. began withdrawing analog TV service this month,
and other European Union countries are set to follow suit. 

But the likelihood of this opening the way for a new pan-European service to
rival GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is remote: each country has
different licensing rules for the television spectrum, and the frequencies used
are not always the same from country to country. 

"I can't see all these auctions collectively creating a new single market,"
said McClune. 
---
End
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