Verizon Wireless sues the Federal Communications Commission for accepting a condition imposed by Google, regarding the open-access of whatever mobile device to the wireless spectrum in the 700 MHz band.
According to the timetable proposed by the Congress, February 2009 should be the month when the last analog TV signals (which operate between the 54MHz and 698MHz television frequencies) will be broadcast. This is supposed to give enough time to the FCC to test emerging technologies and to spectrum bidders to weigh their offers and investments. The stakes are high, considering that a 2005 estimate indicated a value of up to $20 billion for the entire US analog TV spectrum.
The wireless spectrum, also known as “white space”, will be auctioned early next year, on January 16, and is comprised of unused frequencies in the radio waves portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Microsoft, along with industry behemoths like Intel, Google, Samsung, Philips, Earthlink, HP and Dell (grouped in the White Spaces Coalition), has been pushing the FCC to accept “transferring” the vacant analog frequencies to the Internet since late 2006, when the Congress decided to abandon the analog television in the US.
Google’s bid for that spectrum is conditioned by the acceptance of a framework which the Mountain View behemoth has long lobbied for, aimed at ensuring “greater competition and consumer choice”.
The Internet search giant urged the Commission to accept and implement rules for the auction which should benefit consumers’ interest first, no matter what company wins.
Specifically, Google encouraged the FCC to require the adoption of four types of "open" platforms as part of the license conditions: open applications (no restrictions should be imposed to downloading and using any software applications, content, or services), open devices (consumers should be able to freely switch with their handheld communications device between any wireless network available), open services (third parties (resellers) should be able to acquire wireless services from a 700 MHz licensee on a wholesale basis, based on reasonably nondiscriminatory commercial terms) and open networks (third parties (resellers) should be able to acquire wireless services from a 700 MHz licensee on a wholesale basis, based on reasonably nondiscriminatory commercial terms).
Should the Commission approve Google’s requests, the company would ready at least $4.6 for the auction.
In the end, the FCC approved the creation of networks that can work with any device (consumers will have the freedom to attach any device and any application to a 22-MHz section of the band), but refused to comply with the so-called "wholesale condition," (condition no. 3 in the aforementioned list).
However, Verizon is not pleased with the open-access at all, and has filed a suit on Monday in which the company asks the U.S. Court of the Appeals for the District of Columbia to overturn FCC’s decision regarding that matter.
Verizon’s arguments are that the Commission’s July 31 ruling is unconstitutional and that FCC’s condition of open-access is "arbitrary, capricious, unsupported by substantial evidence and otherwise contrary to law."
Google’s answer tried to portray Verizon as an anti-consumer company. "The FCC's auction rules are designed to allow U.S. consumers- for the first time- to use their handsets with any network they desire, and download and use the lawful software applications of their choice," Chris Sacca, the company's head of special initiatives, wrote in a Thursday afternoon blog entry. "It's regrettable that Verizon has decided to use the court system to try to prevent consumers from having any choice of innovative services."
