Two utterly silly arguments are being put forth by the incumbent carriers in an attempt to derail open access. The first of these is that the 700 MHz. auctions will raise less money because of the open-access provisions attached to certain blocks. There is no evidence whatsoever to support this assertion – they might pay less (although I doubt it), but I don’t think non-incumbent bidders who favor open access feel that they’ll necessarily get a bargain in the bidding. I really have no idea why anyone would put forth such a nonsensical argument. But, then, I don’t think spectrum auctions are a good idea, as I’ve previously written, so I couldn’t care less if the government makes less money selling something it doesn’t own and has no right to sell. The government has regardless not proven all that adept, IMHO, at spending my money and yours in recent years. As the political humorist P. J. O’Rourke once noted, “giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”
Secondly, the incumbents argue that the FCC should not be dictating business models to the carriers. The FCC is most certainly not doing this. If a bidder doesn’t like the rules associated with a given block of spectrum, no one is forcing them to bid. Only a monopolist would dare to make such a lame-brained assertion. Again, it’s a question, like so many things in life, of optimization – and in this case, let’s optimize for the customer, not the supplier. Let’s remind these guys whom they work for. Bravo to the FCC for moving in this direction. And, given my quoting of the P. J. O’Rourke commentary above, that’s really something, coming from me.
