so, let's see, earlier this week usatoday ran a piece teasing that the fcc is considering new rules for the upcoming 700mhz spectrum auction that would require as much as a third of the spectrum to be dedicated to a "truly open broadband network." the idea would be that consumers would be able to attach the mobile device(s) of their choice to consume the services, applications, content, etc. of their choice. sounds great (god only knows i've raved about this topic more than once over the history of this blog), right?
yeah, well, maybe. or not. would carving out a little chunk of spectrum in a band that has no global counterpart (and as such no network or handset manufacturing scalability) really address the fact that the u.s. mobile market remains perhaps the most carrier-dominated on the planet? um, probably not. indeed, a cynic might wonder of this whole thing is just a political sop, a network neutrality fig leaf to avoid addressing the truly fundamental challenges of competition and consumer choice in american wireless.
more to follow on this developing story...
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