A Bid for Cleaner, More Open Airwaves
Submitted by Tim Karr on February 4, 2008 - 1:21pm.
Yesterday, the air that surrounds us became cleaner in a way.
The bidding on licenses to a chunk of the wireless spectrum hit its $4.6 billion minimum -- triggering a set of open access conditions that will allow wireless Internet users to connect any device or application using these airwaves.
This marks as significant shift from the "walled garden" model that has dominated wireless networks in America.
Dirty Air
Carriers have long prevented people from taking their cell phones or mobile Internet devices with them when switching providers; they have also blocked or crippled new applications on these gadgets exacting extortionate fees from providers and customers in order for them to function.
Meeting the minimum bid is a small but not insignificant victory, according to Ben Scott policy director of Free Press, but just the latest skirmish in the mega-battle to keep Internet net open to all users and closed to gatekeepers.
"This is just the beginning," Scott said. "This auction signals that the Internet marketplace -- and the public polices that shape it --- should now move decisively toward universal openness."
Opening the Rest
The 22 Mhz band to which these rules will now apply (known in tech circles as the "C Block") represents only a small slice of the airwaves over which wireless communications travel. For the majority of cell phone and wireless Internet users the new rule will have little impact unless it's used as leverage to open the rest of the spectrum.
"If open devices and applications are good for consumers in the networks built on 700 MHz spectrum, why not for all mobile networks?" Scott asks. "These conditions should be applied across the board so that consumers can benefit immediately from more choice and competition.”
No matter who wins the C block, the auction should be a catalyst for a new and expanded fight -- especially if, as expected, AT&T and Verizon snag the lions share of the national licenses that are available.
Losing the 'Third Pipe'
When this auction was first proposed at the FCC, one of the agency's stated goals was to bring a new broadband competitor – a "third pipe" -- into a marketplace still controlled by the cozy cable and phone duopoly. At present more than 96 percent of home high-speed Internet connections are controlled by either a phone or cable provider. And in the majority of markets you are lucky to have more than these two choices for a connection.
If a phone incumbent like AT&T wins these licenses, all efforts to inject competition into the U.S. market will have failed -- as the phone giant is unlikely to introduce a wireless broadband product that cannibalizes the market for its legacy DSL networks.
The War Against Gatekeepers
At the moment there's an effort to petition the FCC to open all wireless airwaves in this way -- not just the C Block. Winning this is critical.
We have already shown that a well mobilized public can force open a slice of the marketplace that's been the exclusive domain of the carrier cartel. We can now do more to open the rest of it.
This is more than an exercise in public policy, it’s a battle over the fate of digital media.
The Internet of the future -- one where most of us get online via a wireless connection -- could be a lot less free than it is today if we simply settle for the status quo of almost complete carrier control.
The challenge for us is how to leverage this small success in this particular battle into momentum and advantage in the larger war against the gatekeepers.
The bidding on licenses to a chunk of the wireless spectrum hit its $4.6 billion minimum -- triggering a set of open access conditions that will allow wireless Internet users to connect any device or application using these airwaves.
|
This marks as significant shift from the "walled garden" model that has dominated wireless networks in America.
Dirty Air
Carriers have long prevented people from taking their cell phones or mobile Internet devices with them when switching providers; they have also blocked or crippled new applications on these gadgets exacting extortionate fees from providers and customers in order for them to function.
Meeting the minimum bid is a small but not insignificant victory, according to Ben Scott policy director of Free Press, but just the latest skirmish in the mega-battle to keep Internet net open to all users and closed to gatekeepers.
"This is just the beginning," Scott said. "This auction signals that the Internet marketplace -- and the public polices that shape it --- should now move decisively toward universal openness."
Opening the Rest
The 22 Mhz band to which these rules will now apply (known in tech circles as the "C Block") represents only a small slice of the airwaves over which wireless communications travel. For the majority of cell phone and wireless Internet users the new rule will have little impact unless it's used as leverage to open the rest of the spectrum.
"If open devices and applications are good for consumers in the networks built on 700 MHz spectrum, why not for all mobile networks?" Scott asks. "These conditions should be applied across the board so that consumers can benefit immediately from more choice and competition.”
No matter who wins the C block, the auction should be a catalyst for a new and expanded fight -- especially if, as expected, AT&T and Verizon snag the lions share of the national licenses that are available.
Losing the 'Third Pipe'
When this auction was first proposed at the FCC, one of the agency's stated goals was to bring a new broadband competitor – a "third pipe" -- into a marketplace still controlled by the cozy cable and phone duopoly. At present more than 96 percent of home high-speed Internet connections are controlled by either a phone or cable provider. And in the majority of markets you are lucky to have more than these two choices for a connection.
If a phone incumbent like AT&T wins these licenses, all efforts to inject competition into the U.S. market will have failed -- as the phone giant is unlikely to introduce a wireless broadband product that cannibalizes the market for its legacy DSL networks.
The War Against Gatekeepers
At the moment there's an effort to petition the FCC to open all wireless airwaves in this way -- not just the C Block. Winning this is critical.
We have already shown that a well mobilized public can force open a slice of the marketplace that's been the exclusive domain of the carrier cartel. We can now do more to open the rest of it.
This is more than an exercise in public policy, it’s a battle over the fate of digital media.
The Internet of the future -- one where most of us get online via a wireless connection -- could be a lot less free than it is today if we simply settle for the status quo of almost complete carrier control.
The challenge for us is how to leverage this small success in this particular battle into momentum and advantage in the larger war against the gatekeepers.
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