Sonim XP1 Blog

AT&T Says Open Access Rules Are ... Interesting

At the Web 2.0 summit last Friday, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said the company hasn't decided whether it will bid for the 700MHz band because it doesn't know if it can build a profitable business given the open-access rules set for the wireless spectrum by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Stephenson called the rules, which include open-access capabilities on a third of the spectrum, "interesting."

But, PC World reports, Stephenson then went on to describe the 700 MHz band as "a huge opportunity. It's beachfront property. When it comes to buying spectrum, it's the best you're going to find for a long time," Stephenson said.

AT&T recently agreed to buy 12MHz of high-speed wireless spectrum in the 700MHz band from Aloha Partners LP for US$2.5 billion.

"It's the first time, I think, that we've ever paid $2.5 billion for a company that had no revenue," PC World quoted Stephenson as saying.

Revenue or not, I (and every other sentient being in the world) expect that AT&T will see nice returns on that investment, the Aloha spectrum covers 196 million U.S. residents, including 72 of the 100 largest markets in the U.S.

Unlocking the iPhone

The New York Times has a great article on wireless freedom. Hopefully the Carrier Cabal will take note: consumers want to use their wireless phones with whatever service they choose to use.

The NY Times piece is about people who are reverse-engineering their phones -- unlocking them -- so that the devices can be used on any network. AT&T is paying millions to be the exclusive United States provider of Apple's much-hyped and glowingly reviewed gadget, the iPhone, the Times notes, and then adds that 17-year-old George Hotz spent two months tinkering before he figured out how to unlock the iPhone. He's published a complete set of instructions on how to do this online, so other users can also make their iPhones think differently than Apple and AT&T had intended.

Open Auction for 700 MZ -- Give Me (and the US consumer) a Break!

Today the The Federal Communications Commission announced that it would allow one bidder to buy the entire 700MHz spectrum, in an auction planned for January 2008. So this spectrum, formerly used by local municipalities and old TV channels is going to be auctioned to the highest bidder. It's the largest allocation of airwaves in the last decade.

The FCC was swayed by Google, a shining example itself of a ruthless monopoly, and has opted to allow some of the spectrum to be sold with the condition that that network will have to allow for the use of any phone, a system that has been employed by the rest of the world for the last 10+ years.

However, allowing one company to buy the entire spectrum will ensure that this small, symbolic step toward open skies will be just that: symbolic.

Open Skies, Open Standards -- Why We Need Them Now

I've been thinking a lot about the lack of open skies in the US cellular industry lately. The whole situation is amazing and very sad.

The US, which invented modern cellular technology, is now lagging far behind the rest of the world because two lucky and two fortunate carriers control the (wireless) skies and stifle innovation.

"Two lucky" in that Sprint/Nextel and T-Mobile were newcomers to the industry 20 years ago. Both took big gambles and it paid off, a classic example of right time and right place. The other two, Verizon and AT&T, are Ma Bell spinoffs that were given the rights to the airwaves before anyone really understood their value. They have profited from being there first.   

Those four companies have caused wireless technology to stagnate in the US. In every  other country in the world, except Japan, the consumer has the choice of buying any phone he or she wants and using any series of services that they want. They pay an operator for the time they rent on the network and everything works with everything else, there's no such thing as one phone being locked into one service provider's network.