Google is preparing to test the foundation for a wireless version of its high-speed "Fiber" Internet service. In an application to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Google asked the agency for permission to conduct tests in California across different wireless spectrums, including a millimetre frequency capable of transmitting large amounts of data.
It is unclear from the heavily redacted filing what exactly Google intends to do, but it does signal the Internet giant’s broader ambition of controlling Internet connectivity. The technology it seeks to test could form the basis of a wireless connection that can be broadcast to homes, obviating the need for an actual ground cable or fibre connection, experts say.
By beaming Internet services directly into homes, Google would open a new path now thoroughly dominated by Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and other entrenched cable and broadband providers. It could potentially offer a quicker and cheaper way to deliver high-speed Internet service, a potential threat to the cable-telecoms oligopoly, experts said.
“From a radio standpoint it’s the closest thing to fibre there is,” said Stephen Crowley, a wireless engineer and consultant who monitors FCC filings, noting that millimetre frequencies can transmit data over short distances at speeds of several gigabits per second.