What Verizon Really Wants Is Well Hidden

When our best interest and Verizon’s best interest conflict who should make the call? Verizon says they should!

Interesting op-ed in Saturday’s New York Times from Lowell C. McAdam, chief executive of Verizon Communications. He argues for releasing and repurposing radio spectrum so new technologies can move forward. He’s worried the Verizon’s of the world will run out of bandwidth.

At issue is the allocation of wireless spectrum, the crucial “real estate” upon which wireless networks are built.

So far, so good. Lots of businesses have bandwidth they’re not using or not using efficiently. Verizon and other wireless providers are voracious user of bandwidth. We need to move forward to serve all our needs.

Here’s my problem. It is buried at the end of a sentence near the end of the op-ed.

In previous auctions, the F.C.C. has excluded potential participants and dictated aspects of a winning bidder’s business plan.

Verizon doesn’t want that!

They’re wary because of a spectrum auction held in 2008. To win Verizon had to make certain open access promises. FreePress.net, an advocacy group, says Verizon has gone back on its promise. They’ve gone so far as to file with the FCC to force Verizon to comply.

When Verizon purchased the spectrum licenses associated with its LTE network, it agreed that it would not “deny, limit, or restrict” the ability of its users to access the applications and devices of their choosing. Recent news reports suggest that at Verizon’s behest, Google has disabled Verizon customers’ access to third-party tethering applications in Google’s Android Market application store. Plainly, Verizon’s actions in disabling access to the tethering applications limit and restrict the ability of users to access those applications. Because users download tethering applications for the express purpose of connecting additional devices to their data connections, Verizon’s actions also limit and restrict the ability of users to connect the devices of their choice to the LTE network. The Commission should immediately investigate this apparent violation of its rules and assess all appropriate penalties.

Should Verizon be allowed to restrict the use of our spectrum because it might compete with their other products? Radio spectrum isn’t owned by companies. It’s owned by us and administered by the FCC. Shouldn’t it be used to serve our collective best interest?

When our best interest and Verizon’s best interest conflict who should make the call? Verizon says they should!

That’s the rub.

Mr. McAdam buried the lede.

8 thoughts on “What Verizon Really Wants Is Well Hidden”

  1. >>Google has disabled Verizon customers’ access to third-party tethering applications in Google’s Android Market application store.

    It’s available elsewhere: http://junefabrics.com/android/ and is currently on my Droid X.
    (It works and seems pretty fast to me.)

    How pray tell, is Verizon’s attitude any different than Apple’s (where the iron-fist of control has become the stuff of legend) especially as it applies to smart phone applications?

    1. Verizon is using the public airwaves and promised not to. Apple made no such promise nor is it the recipient of our largess.

  2. Exactly, Geoff. Badly or not, the FCC administers telecommunication in the US. If you want an example of WHY private companies should not be allowed to – look no further than the airline industry. Enough said.

  3. Hi Geoff!
    You said that each company has a certain amount of open bandwidth, is that why they are all limiting the amount of bandwidth their customers can use? Is that also why they don’t allow unlimited data anymore?

    1. I believe every company… every person… wants to make the most they can while spending the least they can. In my opinion there are a variety of reasons Verizon and the other cell companies and Internet providers limit bandwidth. I would find their arguments more believable if the limits were only in place when bandwidth is precious.

  4. >>When Verizon purchased the spectrum licenses associated with its LTE network, it agreed that it would not “deny, limit, or restrict” the ability of its users to access the applications and devices of their choosing.

    But that’s exactly what Apple insists on via their app store which since the iphone is now sold by multiple companies places all of them in violation of the above.

    Thus singling out Verizon makes no sense.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *