The making of open-access wireless networks: A look back at key milestones

Timeline of events leading up to next month’s 700-MHz spectrum auction

Over the past year, several events have occurred that indicate American mobile networks are about to become more open. Below are some of the critical events, including when the FCC placed open-access rules on the 700-MHz spectrum auction, Google launched its Android open-access mobile platform, and Verizon announced its decision to go open.

April 26: The FCC approved a plan for auctions of wireless 700-MHz spectrum that would sell pieces of the spectrum in chunks of varying geographic sizes, including metropolitan areas, larger regional economic zones and multistate regions. (See related story, “What to expect from Google and the 700-MHz spectrum auction.”)

July: Various industry and interest groups pitched their ideas about spectrum auction rules to the FCC. Advocacy groups such as Public Knowledge and Consumers Union asked the FCC to require that part of the auctioned spectrum be sold with open-access rules attached. Large broadband and wireless providers, meanwhile, argued that placing heavy conditions on the spectrum would decrease its value and would hamper their efforts to create next-generation services.

July 31: The FCC put open-access rules on one-third of the spectrum to be auctioned off, voting to require that the winner of 22 MHz of spectrum allow any wireless devices to connect to the network.

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Over the past year, several events have occurred that indicate American mobile networks are about to become more open. Below are some of the critical events, including when the FCC placed open-access rules on the 700-MHz spectrum auction, Google launched its Android open-access mobile platform, and Verizon announced its decision to go open.

April 26: The FCC approved a plan for auctions of wireless 700-MHz spectrum that would sell pieces of the spectrum in chunks of varying geographic sizes, including metropolitan areas, larger regional economic zones and multistate regions. (See related story, “What to expect from Google and the 700-MHz spectrum auction.”)

July: Various industry and interest groups pitched their ideas about spectrum auction rules to the FCC. Advocacy groups such as Public Knowledge and Consumers Union asked the FCC to require that part of the auctioned spectrum be sold with open-access rules attached. Large broadband and wireless providers, meanwhile, argued that placing heavy conditions on the spectrum would decrease its value and would hamper their efforts to create next-generation services.

July 31: The FCC put open-access rules on one-third of the spectrum to be auctioned off, voting to require that the winner of 22 MHz of spectrum allow any wireless devices to connect to the network.

Sept. 14: Verizon sued the FCC over the open-access rules it placed in the spectrum auction. Verizon dropped the suit just over a month later, on Oct. 24.

Nov. 5: Google, Sprint Nextel, Deutsche Telekom and 30 other companies banded together to form the Open Handset Alliance, an industry group dedicated to promoting the use of Android, Google's Linux-based open platform for mobile devices, in order to “foster innovation on mobile devices and give consumers a far better user experience than much of what is available on today's mobile platforms.”

Nov. 27: Verizon announced that it plans to give customers the option of connecting to its network through outside devices, marking a departure from its past position on open-access networks.

IDG News Service correspondent Grant Gross contributed to this timeline.

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