Skype Official Calls Out Carriers on Open Networks
By Phil Goldstein
In a strongly-worded letter to the FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a Skype official complained that the major U.S. wireless carriers were all talk when it came to "open" networks, and that if the Commission wanted to live up to its stated goal of making open networks more accessible, it would affirm that this policy covers wireless networks.
Christopher Libertelli, Skype's senior director of government and regulatory affairs for North America, said that last week at the CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment conference in San Francisco, the major U.S. carriers paid lip service to the idea of open networks, but strongly cautioned that too much choice would lead to chaos, and damage the viability of their business model.
Libertelli stated that, "The attitude of the wireless carriers was perhaps best summed up in Sprint Nextel Corp. CEO Dan Hesse's recent comment: 'The big Internet can be daunting... There can be too much choice.' This stands in stark contrast to the Commission's wise policies designed to promote as much consumer choice as possible."
He said Skype was mindful of the challenges wireless carriers faced in moving to an open network. But he also said it was not enough to simply talk about open networks.
"Consumer choice, competition and free markets, not carriers acting to block competition, should win the day in wireless--now, not later," he said. "If the Commission believed that the transition to more open networks was going to proceed quickly, statements out of CTIA's convention suggest just the opposite."
"Openness" was a major theme of the conference in San Francisco, and the first keynote session included Sprint Nextel's Hesse as well T-Mobile USA's CEO Robert Dotson and Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam speaking about what "open" meant to their companies. [FierceWireless]
Motorola Exec: FCC White Space Testing Going Well
By Sue Marek
The FCC's white space device field test, which started last month, is going very well--at least for some companies. In an interview yesterday with FierceWireless, Steve Sharkey, Motorola's senior director, regulatory and spectrum policy, said that the FCC has just finished most of the outdoor white space device testing and that Motorola's white space device did very well in the tests.
Sharkey said that Motorola uses geolocation technology, which means it uses a combination of location technology (such as GPS) and a database that advises the device on what channel to use and whether or not there is compatibility with other white space devices."The geolocation approach has proved highly reliable," Sharkey says.
The FCC is on track to finish its white space testing soon and the commission will release a report with all the test information. Sharkey believes that based upon the performance of Motorola's device, geolocation technology will be part of the recommendation for white space device specifications.
The FCC is conducting the tests to see whether the devices that access unused television airwaves, called "white spaces," will interfere with television broadcasts. Companies such as Google and Microsoft want to use this spectrum to develop new mobile communications devices. However, the initiative has raised the ire of the National Association of Broadcasters, which argues that "white space" devices may interfere with existing television broadcasts.
Verizon Communications Executive Vice President Tom Tauke told Broadcasting & Cable that so far nobody's devices have passed the FCC's white space testing requirements. Verizon has been outspoken in its objection to letting companies use white space spectrum for wireless devices. Tauke says that the company favors licensed spectrum. [FierceWireless]
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