The recent 700MHz auction results have been released -- and the winners are... exactly who we thought they would be: big telco incumbents. While this result may not be ideal, the open platform mandate for the C Block (which raised over $5 billion of the $19.6 billion in proceeds) will require Verizon to allow all compatible devices onto their network (which should dramatically increase the options for consumers who would like to bring their own devices to their service provider). Of course, there's still a lot to the rules that will need to be interpreted by the FCC -- the actual mandate was developed as a compromise among various FCC staffers and contains language that was purposefully nebulous. Meanwhile, here's an article from PC World that sums up some of the issues at play in this recent auction:

From PCworld.com:

700-MHz Auction Draws Mixed Reaction

Although disappointed that large incumbent carriers won the biggest prizes in the 700-MHz auction this week, some open-network advocates still say the auction could be a good first step.

Brad Reed, Network World

Friday, March 21, 2008 05:00 PM PDT

Some open-network advocates say the federal government's 700-MHz auction could be a good first step toward giving American consumers access to a truly open wireless network.

Sascha Meinrath, the research director for the New America Foundation's Wireless Future Program, says the 700-MHz auction went "exactly as expected," with big carriers Verizon and AT&T scoring big wins on the so-called "C" and "B" blocks of spectrum, respectively. Now that the spectrum has been allotted to the victors, he says, the future of open mobile broadband networks in the United States now hinges upon how vigorously the FCC enforces the open-access regulations it placed on the C Block, the 22-MHz chunk of spectrum that Verizon bid more than US$4.5 billion for the rights to operate.

The C Block is a particularly valuable piece of spectrum because it provides the broadest range of coverage over any spectrum available in the auction, and could potentially hold the key to building out a nationwide open-access wireless network. The FCC placed open-access rules on the block last year that will prohibit Verizon from blocking or slowing Internet traffic from competing carriers using the network, or from discriminating against devices trying to connect to the network. The commission adopted the rules in response to heavy lobbying from Google and consumer-advocacy groups.

Meinrath says while the open-access rules have the right intent behind them, they are broadly written and can be open to different interpretations. Thus the future composition of the FCC, and whether its members are strongly committed to the principle of open networks, will determine just how open the C-Block spectrum really is.
Verizon

Tim Karr, the campaign director for media advocacy group Free Press, says Verizon's past opposition to open networks means that the carrier should [that should probably be "shouldn't" --sdm] be trusted and that consumer groups will have to pressure the FCC to strictly enforce its own rules.

"I don't see Verizon doing anything in the wireless space to threaten their status quo of control over the broadband marketplace," he says. "We need to remain vigilant to ensure that Verizon honors the FCC conditions in a way that brings real consumer choice into a still-closed marketplace."

Karr also says the FCC should expand openness conditions to all wireless networks used by consumers, and not only the C Block. He thinks that unless the FCC is active in prodding Verizon and other carriers toward more openness, then Verizon's victory in the auction will leave "slim prospects for genuine Internet competition via a wireless 'third pipe.'"

Google, which did not win any actual spectrum in the auction, has so far expressed more optimism over the auction results than some of the consumer advocacy groups. In a post on Google's public policy blog, Google attorneys Richard Whitt and Joseph Farber called the auction "a major victory for consumers" and predicted that "consumers soon should begin enjoying new, Internet-like freedom to get the most out of their mobile phones and other wireless devices." Google also said that it couldn't comment in further detail on the auction results because it might violate the FCC's anti-collusion rules for the auction, but promised that it would have "more to say in the near future."

Now that the reserve price has been met, the open platform requirements on the C block 700 MHz spectrum auction are a guarantee. So what's left to do? Well, let's watch what happens:

Point your browser to:
https://auctionsignon.fcc.gov/signon/index.htm

Under the "Public Access" section, choose the "Auction 73" option from the pull-down menu and click the "Go" button.

Then click the "Results" tab (up at the top of the page).

Why watch? Because one of two things is about to happen -- either the results will keep going up (the current bid as of a few minutes ago is $4,713,823,000) or they'll stay the same. While bidders are anonymous and I can't guarantee anything, chances are, if the bid stays the same, there's only one bidder (probably Google unless Verizon got in just under the wire); if the results keep going up, then there's at least a couple groups bidding.

If the results keep going up, could be that Google is actually making a play for the spectrum (or it could be that two incumbents are battling it out); if things stay the same, well, could be that Google's the only one bidding.

Either way, with new rounds happening every 30 minutes -- it's a way to watch the future of telecommunications unfolding right before your very eyes. Personally, I've got my office desktop computer tuned to this while I'm working on my laptop.

Exciting stuff!

Here's a piece of PR masterwork from the folks at Verizon. For those who have been following the Open Platform debate (an initiative to require an open platform for interconnection of any devices/applications on a small piece of the upcoming 700MHz band that's going to be auctioned in January), you know that Verizon has been 100% against the idea. Verizon has been so entirely against the idea that they contacted the Chairman of the FCC asking that he kill it while, at the same time, they sued the FCC to prevent open platform requirements from going through.

Verizon, in a nutshell, hates the idea of an open platform for the interconnection of devices and applications -- to the point that the FCC Chairman called me and Harold Feld into his office to attempt to get the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition to back off on our open platform demands.

So what's this news really about? Basically, Verizon wants to be able to charge customers (at a price and rate still to be set) to access the services and applications they want on the devices they own. Verizon is, attempting to turn the applications you have bought and paid for (or downloaded for free if you're using free open source software) into commodity so that they can charge you a second time to access them via the Verizon network. In essence, Verizon is adding a corporate tax that goes straight into their coffers for the so-called "privilege" to run the services and applications you want, on the devices you've already bought and paid for. On a digital communications network, data is data is data -- the network doesn't care if the packet is voice, video, text, or any other media -- an open platform should require that data is treated the same way as it is on a DSL line. The idea that Verizon would be able to differentiate among services (and charge users a second time to access an "open platform") is ridiculous. Yet without some sort of rule to stop this form of corporate malfeasance, it's unlikely that we'll ever see cellular DSL-esque services from Verizon.

However this plays out, it's quite likely that Verizon will now be going after the C-band in the January 2008 spectrum auction. Between this and the Android announcement by Google, we could see a fairly interesting bidding war between the two.

From money.cnn.com

Verizon Wireless to Introduce 'Any Apps, Any Device' Option for Customers in 2008

New Open Development Initiative Will Accelerate Innovation and Growth

November 27, 2007: 07:30 AM EST

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Nov. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless today announced that it will provide customers the option to use, on its nationwide wireless network, wireless devices, software and applications not offered by the company. Verizon Wireless plans to have this new choice available to customers throughout the country by the end of 2008.

Read more...

Presented at the 2007 Community Wireless Infrastructure Research Project (CWIRP) Workshop in Toronto, Canada on October 16, 2007, "US Telecommunications: Policy and Fantasy in the 21st Century" takes analyses the implications of four initiatives affecting 21st century telecommunications:

1. Broadband Census of America Act of 2007
2. Community Broadband Act
3. Open Platform requirements of the 700MHz spectrum auction
4. White Space Devices