June 2 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. government engineers are winding up lab tests that will help determine whether Google Inc.'s plan to beam Internet searches over vacant airwaves would interfere with digital television signals.
The findings will help regulators decide the future use of intervals between TV channel frequencies. The largest technology companies are urging the U.S. to give mobile-phone users free access to those airwaves, known as white spaces.
Google and Microsoft Corp. propose using the white spaces to expand the $24.5 billion market for mobile Web services. Google co-founder Larry Page said the unused frequencies could become ``Wi-Fi on steroids,'' blanketing the nation with high-speed Internet access. Broadcasters such as Walt Disney Co.'s ABC say the plan would disrupt TV reception.
``This is a very contentious proceeding,'' said Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, whose agency will decide the matter, in an interview. ``What we're doing is different. It's not testing a consumer product. Rather, it's testing prototype devices to help us set the rules at the beginning.''
Professional sports leagues including the National Football League, musicians and theatrical performers, who use wireless microphones operating on white space frequencies, also are fighting the proposal.
The FCC is evaluating devices submitted by proponents of the plan that are designed to prevent interference. If the technology works, the FCC could adopt rules this year to allow wider access to the airwaves, Martin said. Lab trials, set to end soon, will be followed by research in the field.
Contentious Tests
During a recent test in Columbia, Maryland, two engineers adjusted sensitivity levels on a Motorola Inc. prototype -- a laptop plugged into a black box five times its size -- to see whether it detected the presence of broadcast signals.
Proponents say this type of technology can be built into mobile devices, enabling them to avoid occupied channels automatically. The lab is also testing devices from Amsterdam- based Royal Philips Electronics NV and Saratoga, California-based Adaptrum Inc.
Former FCC Chairman Michael Powell proposed opening the white spaces in 2004. Microsoft and Philips submitted prototypes of sensing devices to the FCC last year. Initial tests found they didn't consistently detect broadcasters' signals. The FCC began a second round of tests in January.
Martin has allowed the public to observe the trials. Lawyers and engineers from Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola, microphone maker Shure Corp., located in Niles, Illinois, and broadcast industry groups visit the lab regularly. If the FCC opens the white spaces, each consumer product will need separate approval.
`Significant Problems'
Google's Page, in Washington to meet lawmakers, called interference concerns ``fiction'' during a May 22 speech. The National Association of Broadcasters last week sent a letter to every member of Congress saying technology companies want to divert attention from ``significant problems'' with the devices.
The U.S. last year ranked 15th in percentage of population subscribing to high-speed Internet service, down from 12th in 2006, said the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Page said the white-spaces plan would help the U.S. catch up because the airwaves could form a free national wireless broadband network.
That would help Mountain View, California-based Google, owner of the most popular Internet search engine, to sell more advertising on mobile phones and Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, to increase revenue from mobile applications and services.
Consumer spending on U.S. wireless data services grew 55 percent to $24.5 billion last year, according to Chetan Sharma Consulting in Issaquah, Washington.
TV Plan
Broadcasters would rather see the government sell licenses letting carriers use white spaces only in rural areas. That would protect TV signals because licensees would be accountable if interference occurs, said David Donovan, president of trade group Association for Maximum Service Television.
Permitting unlicensed devices to use those channels, as envisioned by Google, would cause untraceable interference for millions of TVs that use over-the-air signals, Donovan said.
``If you're in an apartment and suddenly your set keeps going out, how do you know what's doing it?'' he said. ``Even if you did, what would you do? Knock on the guy's door and take his PDA away from him?''
`Not White Space'
Interference might endanger performers who use wireless equipment to take cues from directors, said Mark Dennis, head of audio for Cirque du Soleil's KA show in Las Vegas.
``The whole term `white spaces' itself is a misnomer,'' Dennis said. ``It's not white space. We're using it.''
Medical device makers say the plan may disrupt hospital gear that uses channel 37. General Electric Co.'s health-care unit wants the FCC to bar white-space devices on channels 36 and 38.
Google urged the FCC to set aside those channels for wireless microphones to protect medical equipment and productions like Cirque du Soleil's. Motorola and Google proposed letting microphone users set up antenna-like ``beacons'' to help white- space devices avoid the airwaves.
``We have as much interest as any other American does in making sure folks can enjoy Broadway shows and NFL football games without being hampered by interference,'' Google lobbyist Richard Whitt said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Molly Peterson in Washington at mpeterson9@bloomberg.net
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