Last night the FCC gag rule came off, and the winners of the 700 MHz frequency auctions were free to describe their service plans. The two major winners, Verizon and AT&T, both weighed in, and not surprisingly, they’re both looking at deploying services based on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. Most notable was that neither of their visions included any mention of WiMAX.

They did make it clear that we should not be anticipating any new services in the 700 MHz band for three years. Given the wireless industry’s track record regarding new service rollouts, you can safely tack two or three years on to that prediction.

The most interesting comment came from AT&T Wireless’ CEO Ralph de la Vaga. Ralphie was quoted in the Wall Street Journal saying that the spectrum AT&T acquired was more valuable as it was “not encumbered” by open platform conditions like the C Block that frequencies Verizon bought.AT&T likes their customers hog-tied.

While I am pleased that Mr. de la Vaga’s observations regarding spectrum valuation agree with the observation I made in a post last week, it’s clear that the cellular carriers’ are still addicted to the “walled garden” view of wireless data services. Of course, this does not bode well for flexible mobile unified communications solutions. I wonder if AT&T can develop an upbeat advertising program around “handcuffs”?

Tags: UC Information by Michael Finneran
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Mobile unified communications took a shot in the chops this week when FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced in a speech at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas that he will oppose Skype’s petition to open up existing wireless carrier networks to outside devices. “In light of the industry’s embrace of this more open approach, I think it’s premature for the commission to place any other requirements on these networks,” Martin told the audience. Not surprisingly, his comments were met with loud applause from an audience dominated by cellular carriers whose view toward openness I have already compared to the KGB.

In a classic column in Business Communications Review in 2005, my pal Dave Passmore of the Burton Group raised the call for a Carterphone for Wireless. Industry veterans (“gray-haired” veterans) will recognize a reference to the 1968 Supreme Court decision that forced the Bell companies to permit non-Bell devices to be connected to the public telephone network. The Carterphone ruling created the interconnect industry, which in turn gave rise to a burst of creativity in business telephone systems that led to lower prices, better technologies, and eventually IP PBXs and unified communications. Skypehad been pushing for a similarregulation to force mobile operators to allow the connection of any device that doesn’t harm the network.

Given the cellular industry’s status as “the new Bell System”, it appears that Mr. Martin’s viewpoint may be geared toward snagging one of those lucrative jobs in the cellular industry when his tenure at the FCC comes to an end.

Tags: UC Information by Michael Finneran
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