Verizon "Any Device" Plan a Positive Step, But Details and Full Consumer Choice Still Needed.

The New America Foundation released the following media alert commenting on Verizon's so-called "any app, any device" plan:

Media Alert

November 27, 2007

Verizon "Any Device" Plan a Positive Step, But Details and Full Consumer Choice Still Needed

WASHINGTON - New America Foundation's Wireless Future Program offered qualified praise for this morning's announcement that Verizon Wireless will allow its customers to use any device it certifies on its wireless networks.

"Verizon's plan is a positive step, but FCC Chairman Martin and the other commissioners deserve the credit for making consumer choice a condition on the TV band spectrum licenses that will be auctioned early next year," said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program. "This appears to be a move to head off market entry and new wireless competition from Google and other Internet companies that would result if the incumbent carriers were unwilling to meet minimal FCC consumer choice requirements."

"It remains to be seen whether the pricing and other details will in fact give consumers the same choice of devices and applications that they have on wireline Internet connections," said Sascha Meinrath, research director of the Wireless Future Program. "It is not enough to simply claim support for 'any' application and device. Verizon plans to certify equipment themselves; by definition this means that they will not let certain devices on their network. This and other inconsistencies leave me deeply concerned."

"Verizon's announcement is an acknowledgment that the carriers' business models can accommodate more openness, but the extent of this openness is not yet clear. We believe the FCC should still provide regulatory certainty that the FCC's Carterfone consumer choice rules apply equally to wired and wireless services," stated Mr. Calabrese.

For background on the Wireless consumer choice issue, see this New America paper by Columbia Law Professor Tim Wu:

http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/wireless_net_neutrality

Additional background is available at www.newamerica.net/wireless_future.

CONTACT:

Michael Calabrese
Sascha D. Meinrath
202-986-2700