Two years ago, Google was one of ten entities selected by the Federal Communications Commission to operate a white spaces database. Google's database is finally just about ready to go: on Monday, the company will begin a 45-day trial allowing the database to be tested by the public.

White spaces technology allows unused TV spectrum to be repurposed for wireless Internet networks. The companies Spectrum Bridge and Telcordia have already completed their tests and have started operating. Google is the third to reach this stage. The databases are necessary to ensure that wireless Internet networks use only empty spectrum and thus don't interfere with TV broadcasts.

"This is a limited trial that is intended to allow the public to access and test Google’s database system to ensure that it correctly identifies channels that are available for unlicensed radio transmitting devices that operate in the TV band (unlicensed TV band devices), properly registers radio transmitting facilities entitled to protection, and provides protection to authorized services and registered facilities as specified in the rules," the FCC said yesterday. "We encourage all interested parties to test the database and provide appropriate feedback to Google."

If nothing goes wrong, Google's database could be open for business a few months after the test closes.

The test doesn't necessarily signal that Google itself is on the cusp of creating wireless networks using white spaces spectrum, although it could. Google has already become an Internet service provider with Google Fiber in Kansas City and has offered free public Wi-Fi in a small part of New York City and Mountain View.

"This has nothing to do with Google creating a wireless network, though Google is interested in the business and could, potentially, create a white space network on down the line," Steven Crowley, a wireless engineer who blogs about the FCC, wrote in an e-mail.

White spaces networks haven't exactly revolutionized broadband Internet access in the US, but companies pushing the technology still hope it will have an impact, particularly in rural areas. An incentive auction the FCC is planning to reclaim spectrum controlled by TV broadcasters may increase the airwaves available to white spaces networks.

The FCC decided to authorize multiple white spaces databases to prevent any one company from having a stranglehold over the process. Google, meanwhile, may be hedging its bets. Public Knowledge Senior VP Harold Feld thinks Google applied to become a database provider so it wouldn't have to worry about anyone else providing key infrastructure.

"I have no specific information, but my belief has always been that Google applied primarily to cover its rear end and make sure that—however they ultimately ended up monetizing the TVWS [TV white spaces]—they didn't need to worry about someone else having some kind of control over one of the key components (the database)," Feld wrote in an e-mail. "So it is not (IMO) that this demonstrates any specific plans about what it wants to do in the TVWS, it just means that Google doesn't want anyone to be able to mess with them once they launch whatever they are going to do."

We've contacted Google to see if the company will provide any information on their long-term plans.

The remaining database operators that must go through public tests are Microsoft, Comsearch, Frequency Finder, KB Enterprises LLC and LS Telcom, Key Bridge Global LLC, Neustar, and WSdb LLC.