Quote from the Official Google Blog –>
In the U.S., wireless spectrum for mobile phones and data is controlled by a small group of companies, leaving consumers with very few service providers from which to choose.
With that in mind, last week, as the federal government prepares for what is arguably its most significant auction of wireless spectrum in history, we urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt rules to make sure that regardless of who wins the spectrum at auction, consumers’ interests are the top priority. Specifically, we encouraged the FCC to require the adoption of four types of “open” platforms as part of the auction:
- Open applications: consumers should be able to download and utilize any software applications, content, or services they desire;
- Open devices: consumers should be able to utilize their handheld communications device with whatever wireless network they prefer;
- Open services: third parties (resellers) should be able to acquire wireless services from a 700 MHz licensee on a wholesale basis, based on reasonably nondiscriminatory commercial terms
; and
- Open networks: third parties (like Internet service providers) should be able to interconnect at any technically feasible point in a 700 MHz licensee’s wireless network
Thoughts –> Here’s some perspective. Our download speeds on broadband in the US average 1.97 megabits per second… while the Japanese enjoy speeds of up to 61 megabits per second. Our broadband is like painfully slow dial-up to them.
Imagine for a minute if somehow, our wireless speeds caught us up to the rest of the world…
Read more at this Link –> Official Google Blog: Our commitment to open broadband platforms
[...] Google Quickie One – Google and Open Broadband Platforms [...]