'Super Wi-Fi' network in doubt

The Federal Communications Commission’s ballyhooed plan to provide a new source of wireless airwaves for a “super Wi-Fi” network could become a casualty of two initiatives pending in Congress: one to build a new communications system for public safety agencies and another to auction off wireless spectrum to the private sector.

The FCC voted in the fall to allow companies such as Microsoft, Google and Intel to build new devices that can surf the Web using idle TV spectrum known as “white spaces.” Proponents of white spaces have been lobbying the commission to create such a network for the better part of a decade. But now the hopes of the agency, and the companies that support the plan, could be dashed as Congress works to repurpose spectrum for mobile broadband and raise revenue to reduce the deficit. “We support Senate Commerce [Committee] Chairman Jay Rockefeller’s objective of creating an interoperable, wireless national public safety network,” Richard Whitt, senior policy counsel to Google, said. “At the same time, we'll continue working closely with his staff and others to ensure that the many consumer benefits resulting from the deployment of TV white spaces technologies remain protected as well.” While white spaces are not actually part of the Wi-Fi network currently utilized by consumers, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has championed white spaces as infrastructure that can create a super Wi-Fi network that would expand high-speed Internet across the country and help create jobs.