14 September 2007
700 MHz auction
Much (virtual) ink has been spilled regarding next years auction of the 700MHz band (much of which took place during my hiatus from blogging earlier this year). At the encouragement of new potential auction participants (like Google), the FCC adopted some new rules. According to this item from Ars Technica (and which has been reported elsewhere), Verizon is now appealing the FCC's decision. This could delay the auctions as the Appeals Court decides on the matter. Stay tuned ...
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I have been following the news of this auction for a while and believe that US mobile service market will be really changed after this frequency auction.
Personally, I totally agree with Google’s idea. Customers should be able to switch to another provider whenever they want. They might have some factors changed that needed a new provider. And I also believe so about the application on the devices. Users should be able to get the applications from any provider even third parties that have capability only to create useful software but do not have their own network.
The service providers should focus on improving their network and services rather than advertising trendy mobile phones to make people want the phones and need to change their provider. The mobile phone competition should be in the manufacturers’ hands. For example, in case of Apple’s iPhone and at&t, if Apple’s makes its phone available for every network provider, it will definitely get more customers. Then customers will need to consider the quality of service they get from providers themselves. Some customers might buy an iPhone but can not use it effectively because of their network can not provide enough level of quality of service. But they still buy the iPhone. There are many others reasons to buy a trendy phone. The only underdog is at&t. However, if at&t is confident about its network quality why would it be afraid. The other network providers will try to develop their service to provide enough quality for new mobile device technologies.
Even though it is still not clear what and how Google is going to do with the new spectrum if it wins the auction, I support Google for this move.
However, in my opinion, FCC should not have adopted those new rules just because of Google offer. A government agency should be fair for every competitor in the market. Adapting the rules is exactly like passing a registration to force all mobile network providers to unlock their service.
Anyway, this issue has a long way to go. At last whoever wins the case, Google has brought a new innovative and constructive idea to the mobile communication market. Customers are going to benefit from this change.
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