Fergie's Tech Blog

AT&T and Verizon Balk at 'Open Access'

Barry Levine writes on CIO Today:

The battle over open access to the wireless spectrum that will be auctioned off in January heated up this week, with AT&T and Verizon Wireless attacking the concept.

The concept of open access is emerging as a key issue for the rules, now being drawn up, that will govern the spectrum in the 700-MHz bands. Among other things, open access would mean allowing any device or service to use the auctioned bandwidth, rather than locking wireless devices to specific carriers, as is currently done in the U.S.

According to news reports, AT&T sent a letter to the FCC this week, attacking Google's position to support open-access rules, including the provision that any reseller would be able to buy wireless services from the winning 700-MHz licensee on a wholesale basis.

If big carriers won the auction, Google had cautioned in a similar letter sent to the FCC, "they would probably use it to protect their existing business models and thwart the entry of new competitors." Google has joined with other companies and organizations in asking for open access.

posted by Fergie @ 7/13/2007 12:41:00 PM