Verizon takes FCC to court over "Open Access" Spectrum
Verizon is sueing FCC over the spectrum auction seeking to overturn rules that would allow any device or software to work on a portion of wireless airwaves. Verizon wants the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to set aside a section of the Federal Communications Commission's rules, calling it "arbitrary, capricious, unsupported by substantial evidence and otherwise contrary to law.". All I can think of saying is bull ****.
They must be shivering over what must be the open access that rest of the world enjoys being launched here in the USA. A few Years ago, I had the pleasure of using Verizon and left me with feelings that never want to deal with them again. But personal feelings aside, what does that verizon wants that other wireless service providers do not seek or plan to deal with.
FCC stated that whoever buys that portion of the spectrum must allow any handset device to be attached to the wireless network they subsequently build and also allow any software application to be downloaded onto handsets over the network.
Both of these conditions would potentially shake up a wireless industry in which the incumbent players like Verizon Wireless exert strict control over the devices their customers can use and the applications they can use.
High-tech companies like Google Inc. and eBay Inc.'s Internet phone unit, Skype, had been aggressively pushing the FCC to adopt the conditions. Verizon Wireless, meanwhile, had been lobbying equally as hard against the conditions.
I would rather deal with companies like Google, Skype, than blood thirsty companies like Verizon. I really hope Google, skype even Microsoft gets the spectrum. Because these companies have different targets than incumbent companies like Verizon has.
"It's regrettable that Verizon has decided to use the court system to try to prevent consumers from having any choice of innovative services," Chris Sacca, Google's head of special initiatives, wrote in the company's blog Thursday. "Once again, it is American consumers who lose from these tactics."
While Philip Verveer, a communications lawyer with the Washington, D.C., office of Wilkie Farr & Gallagher, these types of legal challenges to FCC rules are rarely successful. He said that not only is there a legal presumption that the court must consider the FCC's rules to be correct, but that most often courts will unofficially defer to regulatory agencies as well. "I don't know what basis one would have for launching a challenge of this matter," said Verveer. "A successful appeal of this kind is rarely successful."
Businessweek
Google Public Policy Blog: Consumer choice is always the right answer
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