FCC approves some open wireless requirements

The Federal Communications Commission ruled Tuesday that a valuable chunk of wireless spectrum will be open to whatever mobile devices Americans want to use, amounting to a political setback for traditional telephone companies and a partial win for Google.

As was hinted in recent weeks, the Federal Communications Commission approved that requirement as part of broader rules for auctioning licenses in the coveted 700MHz analog television band. The vote was technically 5-0, although one commissioner delivered a blistering critique of the so-called "open access" requirement.

The Federal Communications Commission ruled Tuesday that a valuable chunk of wireless spectrum will be open to whatever mobile devices Americans want to use.

The ruling amounts to a political setback for the traditional telephone companies and a partial win for Google. Some critics argue the commissioners should have gone further, while others say they should have let market forces prevail.

Congress has mandated the airwaves in the 700MHz band be vacated in February 2009, forcing analog TV broadcasters off those channels as part of a long-anticipated switch to all-digital television. Current and would-be wireless broadband operators are eager to get their hands on the spectrum because of its inherent physical properties, which allow signals to travel farther and more easily penetrate walls.

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