Google has asked the Federal Communications Commission to push the World Radiocommunication Conference to expand spectrum devoted to High Altitude Platform Stations (“HAPS”) as a method of supplying Internet access, across a wide range of geographies.
Google has been testing the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for delivering Internet access services at altitudes between 20 kilometers to 50 kilometers above the surface of the earth.
Scale, Google argues, is essential if the new method is to become a sustainable way of providing Internet access. Right now, spectrum is too limited, as well as lawfulness across most countries, to support a robust business case, Google argues.
