AT&T, Verizon Plan New WiFi in Old TV Spectrum

Verizon and AT&T are talking big about recent bandwidth acquisitions at an FCC auction, the Washington Post reports. The companies promised fast, high-tech new networks in the next few years based on long-range frequencies, newly available from television broadcasters, that can penetrate deep into buildings. A Verizon spokesman said the company hoped to connect “anything and everything together,” Reuters reports.

Verizon purchased an “open” segment of frequencies that must be accessible by any and all devices. Discussing the deal, a spokesman eschewed “regulatory-ese. We want to get people to close their eyes and imagine the possibilities.” AT&T’s purchase was more open-ended, though its wireless CEO hinted at a partnership with Google on an open-source wireless system; one critic noted that a walled garden “is still a walled garden.” (More Verizon stories.)