Verizon and AT&T oppose open access

In February 2009, the world of wireless communications will get a lot bigger as the FCC opens up the 700 MHz band for commercial use. The question still to be answered is precisely how the auctions of those frequencies will be run. Google has proposed "micro auctions" that would open up the spectrum to small providers that, Google says, would bring increased innovation and decreased customer cost to the wireless market. Based on their experience in the cellular telephone market, Verizon and AT&T disagree, saying that the local monopoly model pioneered in the cell frequency auctions would maximize the value of the spectrum and bring greater benefits to the U.S. Treasury. The debate is worth watching carefully, because the outcome will have a profound effect on the next-generation wireless communications available to you and your organization.

For more on open-access opposition:
- read the feature article at CIO-Today