Feeling pressure to open up their networks, wireless operators are tackling the issue in their own ways

On Jan. 31, bidding in the C Block of the 700 MHz auction cleared $4.6 billion — the threshold established by the FCC to require open access. For the first time, the FCC is mandating that an operator share its network as a licensing condition. The winner, or winners, of the 22 MHz C Block must allow any device or application to operate on whatever network is built on it.

This represents a sea change in the U.S. wireless industry, which has always worked under the assumption that if it built the networks and paid for the licenses, it would be allowed to offer services as it sees fit. But just as the CLECs vied for access to the RBOCs’ last-mile copper plant, a new generation of ISPs is demanding access to the radio network. The Googles of the world won a big victory in the 700 MHz auction last month, but oddly enough, before the first base station of the new 700 MHz open network is deployed, Internet companies might find open access already waiting for them. Wireless carriers seem to have come to the conclusion that they need to open themselves up if they’re to bring wireless data penetration to the next level, and several operators — some exuberantly, some reluctantly — have begun dismantling the first bricks of their walled gardens.

The problem is that carriers’ definitions of openness may be far different from what Google or Skype envisions as truly open. In fact, one carrier’s definition may be vastly different from another’s. One thing is certain though: The garden walls are falling. The question is, what kind of garden remains once they’re toppled?

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