With FCC Chairman Kevin Martin stunning telcos and analysts alike earlier this month with a surprise suggested shift of policy toward favouring the “open access” standards demanded by potential investor Google, rival bidders in the war for the valuable 700MHz band that’ll be freed up from the analogue-digital TV switchover are beginning to stake their ground.  After previous fighting words from the CTIA - calling it a “scheme to have the auction rigged” - Verizon have wheeled out their CEO to discretely threaten to reign in the company purse:

“We have made our position clear about the FCC not putting any unnecessary restrictions on any of these blocks … What we need to do now is see what the rules say and then develop a bidding strategy accordingly” Verizon Communications Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg

It’s a delicate matter for the US government, who are hoping to raise in excess of $15bn from the spectrum sale and with few - if any - such high-earning auctions likely in the future.   AT&T appear to be taking a somewhat different approach, with their senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, Jim Cicconi, calling Kevin Martin’s halfway house of partial openness a “creative balance”; there’s no word on whether he was wearing a wry smile as he said it.

In the end, it comes down to an obvious difference between how Google and the traditional telcos view the spectrum and the market.  Tellingly, Google lobbyist Richard Whitt commented:

“If the FCC ultimately decides not to adopt ‘wholesale open access’ license conditions, we do not see how significant new competition can emerge from this auction”

Undoubtedly, Verizon and AT&T are hoping that no new competition, significant or otherwise, will emerge. 

[via Bloomberg]