Is Amazon testing a mysterious wireless technology?



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This is a curious file that caught the attention of the news site of IEEE Spectrum. On November 19, a company called Chrome Enterprises filed an application for authorization with the Federal Communications Commission to test up to 450 prototypes using new wireless broadband technology. But for IEEE Spectrum, it is likely that Chrome Enterprise is only a smoke screen intended to mask … Amazon.

A frequency that will be that of 5G

The technology in question is called the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), which can literally be translated as a broadband radio service for citizens. It concerns the 3.5 GHz frequency band with a spectrum width of 150 MHz. It was reserved for military use and must be partially released without auction and according to a sharing system between CBRS Alliance players. Today, there are about 60 of them, most of them telecom operators and equipment manufacturers such as Nokia, Verizon or Comcast, but also Alphabet, which has been experimenting in this field since 2016. With all this new available spectrum, CBRS promises communications radio in 4G that will be faster and more reliable than Wi-Fi. In France, the 3.5 GHz frequency band is used partly by the army, as well as THD Radio until 2026, but is intended to be dedicated to 5G with an award that will probably go through auctions.

Spa tests

In its application, Chrome Enterprises said it wanted to test up to 150 fixed transmitters and 300 mobile units at Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Tracy facilities in California. A deployment of unparalleled scale. So it's strange that the company that is applying for authorization, Chrome Enterprises, is not more famous. His mailing address is located in an office building in the state of Georgia and the company was established last year in Delaware, a state with strict rules of confidentiality. The Chrome Enterprises e-mail address is a Yahoo.com account and the phone number refers directly to a voicemail. Experimental sites are incongruous: a spa center, a faculty or a plastic manufacturer. But it is specified that the tests can be carried out within a radius of 2 kilometers. However, two of the addresses are located next to buildings belonging to Lab126, Amazon's research laboratory, and the third is located near one of the largest distribution centers on the platform. form.

If Amazon is really behind Chrome Enterprises, it plays a dangerous game by hiding. Because declaring inaccurate information to the FCC can justify a license revocation or a fine.

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