It emerged on Wednesday that Google had petitioned the FCC last week to acquire wireless spectrum in the 2524 to 2546 and 2567 to 2625 MHz ranges.
That sounds like it might be good news for consumers who would be interested in a Google-run wireless carrier, but one source reportedly informed CNET that isn't going to happen.
The source has "knowledge of Google's plans," according to the tech site, thought it didn't provide any more details as to his or her identity or credibility.
Regardless, the report claimed that Google plans to use the requested spectrum bands simply for testing purposes, and not for any service that consumers will get to use.
Bummer
A Google wireless service might have seem far-fetched a few years ago, but not anymore.
As CNET pointed out, Google has experimented lately with Wi-Fi service and, of course, Google Fiber.
The search company's high speed fiber-optics cable and internet service is so far only available in Kansas City, but there are concrete plans to expand it to other cities.
And a Google executive even admitted in December that the company had considered adding telephone services to the Google Fiber packages.
So what are they planning?
The ranges of wireless spectrum that Google requested from the FCC are reportedly reserved for Educational Broadband Service and Broadband Radio Service.
But wireless company Clearwire currently uses bands in those ranges for its WiMax 4G wireless service, a version of 4G that's slower than LTE, according to CNET.
Keep in mind that Google owned a chunk of Clearwire until last year, when the company's fate became rather up in the air.
It's not exactly clear what's going on here, though if CNET's source is to be believed, we may never know.
Via CNET
