Mandatory open access in the 700 MHz spectrum would be a ‘public ...
Mandatory open access in the 700 MHz spectrum would be a “public policy mistake of the first order” and raise “serious legal problems,” Verizon Wireless warned the FCC in a late Tuesday ex parte filing. From a policy standpoint,…
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“there is no competitive failure that could warrant such unprecedented intrusion” and regulating the openness of wireless devices and applications could harm the “privacy and security of consumers and wireless networks,” the company said. “Far from ‘opening’ access, government intervention would in reality be mandating ‘forced access.'” Numerous legal barriers “preclude the Commission from adopting ‘open access’ conditions in this or any other proceeding,” Verizon Wireless said. The company warned the action would “violate the Administrative Procedures Act and the auction statute in multiple respects, violate the First Amendment, exceed the Commission’s statutory authority on numerous grounds, and violate both FCC and Congressional policies.” Verizon Wireless is the second large wireless company to warn about the legal ramifications of imposing open access. AT&T did likewise, then last week retrenched in favor of a compromise plan by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Meanwhile, University of Chicago Prof. Richard Epstein said open access conditions could “reduce both market and social value of the spectrum.” The best route is “a simple common law property rights approach,” he said. “No matter what Google, AT&T or anyone else may think, this is one case in which the fewer the conditions, the stronger the property right,” Epstein said in a paper released by the Free State Foundation. “The stronger the property right, the greater the return from the spectrum to be auctioned and the greater the enhancement of long-term consumer welfare.”