• The New York Times, Tuesday, March 25, 2008 11:15 AM

The so-called "opening" of mobile wireless access is likened to companies like AOL, Earthlink and other ISPs be allowed to license the high-speed data services of big telecoms like Verizon and AT&T. The latter proved a complete failure for dial-up ISPs, because the expense of licensing DSL service kept them from making any money. Why? Because in the end, phone companies could sell DSL service directly to their customers at the same price or cheaper than what AOL and Earthlink could offer, because they had the added expense of the license. Meanwhile, the telecoms could conveniently tack on several services to the same bill, reducing potential customer service headaches.

So how does that situation equate to Verizon winning the FCC's C-Block spectrum with its rules for open access? Actually, Verizon has already gone one better, declaring that it will open up its entire network in the next year; AT&T has also announced similar measures. However, the government mandate for openness doesn't say anything about pricing. In other words, the whole notion of "openness" still operates on the telecoms' terms.

For example, Verizon and AT&T say they will allow customers to use any phone compatible with their networks. Great, but that doesn't account for the massive subsidy (usually $150 or more) that telecoms' offer to customers buying phones attached to one of their partner plans.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »