Light Reading Mobile – Telecom News, Analysis, Events, and Research

2:10 PM -- Google's 1Gbit/s fiber-to-the-home experiment in the Kansas Cities will test an array of bandwidth-gobbling applications, and video will surely be among them. But is Google Fiber also teeing up a pay-TV service to compete with incumbent cable operator Time Warner Cable Inc. and the satellite guys?

It's becoming increasingly clear the answer is yes. Google's already obtained the OK from state regulators to build a video service in Missouri, and it has applied for video franchises in Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan. And then there's that satellite farm that Google's developing in Council Bluffs, Iowa. (See Google Gets OK for Video Over Fiber.)

But, among more recent evidence, Engadget noticed that the Android creator has slipped an IP set-top box to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a look-see. According to the test report, the hi-def-capable IPTV box, made by Humax Co. Ltd. and called the GFHD100, packs in Wi-Fi and USB, Ethernet and HDMI ports. And, for good measure, it comes affixed with a Google Fiber sticker.

Google hasn't made any formal commitments to launch a pay-TV service, but the emergence of the Humax box will certainly stir up speculation that Google's got something cooking.

"We're still exploring what product offerings will be available when we launch Google Fiber in Kansas City, and we have nothing to announce at this time," Google spokeswoman Jenna Wandres noted in response to questions about the Humax device.

Google's network buildout has encountered some delays along the way, but fiber's already being strung ahead of a launch that could happen in the second half of the year. (See Google Fiber Goes 100 Miles & Counting , Google Calls KC Fiber-Ready and Google's Fiber Project Hits a Snag .)

But Google's not committing to the timing on the launch either. "We'll have an announcement about Google Fiber later this summer. We're very much in the middle of the construction phase," Wandres added.

If Humax's boxes don't work out for some reason, Google's got a pretty convenient second source for that equipment (along with video encoders and other video access gear) now, following its recent acquisition of Motorola Mobility. (See Google Closes $12.5B Motorola Deal .)

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable

2:10 PM Humax's IP set-top box affixed with a Google Fiber sticker passes through the FCC
June 05, 2012 | Jeff Baumgartner |


Currently we allow the following HTML tags in comments:

Single tags

These tags can be used alone and don't need an ending tag.

<br> Defines a single line break

<hr> Defines a horizontal line

Matching tags

These require an ending tag - e.g. <i>italic text</i>

<a> Defines an anchor

<b> Defines bold text

<big> Defines big text

<blockquote> Defines a long quotation

<caption> Defines a table caption

<cite> Defines a citation

<code> Defines computer code text

<em> Defines emphasized text

<fieldset> Defines a border around elements in a form

<h1> This is heading 1

<h2> This is heading 2

<h3> This is heading 3

<h4> This is heading 4

<h5> This is heading 5

<h6> This is heading 6

<i> Defines italic text

<p> Defines a paragraph

<pre> Defines preformatted text

<q> Defines a short quotation

<samp> Defines sample computer code text

<small> Defines small text

<span> Defines a section in a document

<s> Defines strikethrough text

<strike> Defines strikethrough text

<strong> Defines strong text

<sub> Defines subscripted text

<sup> Defines superscripted text

<u> Defines underlined text

Network Computing encourages readers to engage in spirited, healthy debate, including taking us to task. However, Network Computing moderates all comments posted to our site, and reserves the right to modify or remove any content that it determines to be derogatory, offensive, inflammatory, vulgar, irrelevant/off-topic, racist or obvious marketing/SPAM. Network Computing further reserves the right to disable the profile of any commenter participating in said activities.

 
Disqus Tips To upload an avatar photo, first complete your Disqus profile. | View the list of supported HTML tags you can use to style comments. | Please read our commenting policy.
 
Related Videos
Most Popular
Read
White Papers SPONSORED CONTENT
Featured
Resource Library SPONSORED CONTENT
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
A modulation scheme where one high-speed signal is split into multiple lower-speed signals