Amazon testing licensed WiFi, could lead to cheap unified global WiFi for Kindles

Amazon testing licensed WiFi, could lead to cheap unified global WiFi for Kindles

Amazon is privately testing WiFi technologies on licensed frequencies that belong to satellite service provider Globalstar. Called TLPS, it has the potential to become a uniform globally available terrestrial wireless network.

TLPS, or Terrestrial Low-Power Service, is a new category for defining wireless operations on an expanded version of Globalstar’s licensed 2.4GHz frequencies. Globalstar currently owns a license for 2483.5-2495MHz nationally, denoted as AWS-5. However, Globalstar has not been operating any wireless service on the band, because it was previously allocated as MSS (mobile satellite service) spectrum. Globalstar is proposing to not only convert MSS 2.4GHz to terrestrial spectrum (as Dish has done with the 2GHz S-band), it wishes to expand the range and absorb 10.5MHz of spectrum adjacent to it. That would expand the channel to 2473-2495MHz, which is a 22MHz channel.

Normally, this does not mean that much. However, there is one key fact about this band: it is globally licensed to Globalstar. That means that Globalstar can potentially turn this into a harmonized range of frequencies to operate a common terrestrial network all over the world. Of course, there are challenges to this. Globalstar is currently licensing this frequency range globally for satellite services only. If Amazon wants to launch terrestrial wireless networks all over the world on these frequencies, Globalstar will need to get approval from every regulatory authority to convert its satellite license into a terrestrial one.

The advantage of Globalstar owning the license for the channel all over the world in a frequency range that it supported by WiFi equipment, is that the cost of building the network would be very low. WiFi gear made today support the frequencies, but the firmware on the radio block usage of Globalstar’s channel in order to prevent interference with any satellite services operating on the channel. It is merely a matter of providing hardware that does permit access to this channel. No real hardware changes are required to make equipment work on the frequency range. It is even possible to use something like WiMAX as the basis of a truly global cellular system for the frequencies, since WiMAX can already operate on the band as well.

Should Globalstar convert it for use in WiFi-based TLPS by Amazon, it would become possible to cheaply cover the world in WiFi so that Amazon could use it for Kindle e-readers and tablets. It could completely bypass the mobile network operators in providing universal coverage.