WASHINGTON - A key federal regulator said on Tuesday that he will not pursue new rules requiring wireless carriers to open their networks to whatever devices or programs their customers desire.
Federal Communications Commission Democrat Michael Copps said he would not "strongly object" to waiting to see how recent "voluntary" promises by wireless carriers pan out.
Carriers, including AT&T Wireless, have played up their perceived openness as a marketing tactic. Ostensibly because of the threat of regulation, Verizon Wireless recently said that, by the end of this year, it would allow any phone to run on its network and allow any application to run on those devices.
"I hope it is as good as it sounds," Copps said at an event organized by the New America Foundation. "But we have to ask, ‘Has the reality shifted quite as much as the rhetoric has shifted?'"
Hesitance to new regulations from Copps has startled many, especially since he has said he would like to see the FCC pass more stringent rules regarding Net neutrality, or prioritizing Internet content.
Copps he said he is worried about tricks that wireless carriers might play with their pricing, like charging customers fees for bringing their own handsets or requiring consumers to buy voice plans in addition to data plans when they only want to make Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls on their wireless phones.
Copps also will look at whether consumers are made to move their phones from one carrier to another and whether entrepreneurs designing new mobile devices or applications are being hampered by seeking permission from wireless carriers before offering their products.
The FCC has taken a step toward requiring wireless carriers to open up their networks. As part of its rules for an upcoming auction of a vacated broadcast TV spectrum, the agency is requiring winning bidders on a small slice of the 700 MHz spectrum to abide by "open access" principles.
But the practical impact of those requirements globally remains less clear, which has prompted some public interest groups and VoIP company Skype to push for broader rules.
Bob Calaff, T-Mobile's technology policy director, who spoke on a panel after Copps, said the government should be careful about imposing new obligations on wireless firms.
"We're not talking about a toaster or a refrigerator or even a landline phone or a PC," he said. "We're talking about devices that are integrally connected to the network. When we head into these policy debates, we have to be mindful that these are integral components of the network and that one size does not fit all."
