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SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACT The concept of Open Access to Communication Resources is central in the ongoing transformation of the communication market from a "vertically integrated" market with a few operators owning and operating everything between the physical medium and the end-user, to an "open horizontal market" with an abundance of actors operating on different levels and providing value added services on top of each other. Open Access is also a broad approach to policy and regulatory issues that starts from the question: what do we want to bring about outside of purely industry sector concerns? It places an emphasis on:
It is not simply about making micro-adjustments to the technical rules of the policy and regulatory framework but seeking to produce fundamental changes in the outcomes that can be delivered through it. Since the advent of World Wide Web (WWW) in the early 1990s, the greatest advantage the web culture has brought about through dot.com boom-and-bust cycles is decentralization that has created more user-centric society, embracing diversity, practicality,voluntarism and egalitrainism in every field across the planet. CONTROVERSY There may be advantages and disadvantages in pursuing Open Access in telecommunications at a time when Digital Divide is still a global issue. There are potential "conflict of interest" areas that can only be addressed through free market mechanism. In the United States, TV stations are changing to digital broadcasting and giving up 700 MHz airwave spectrum by 2009. The FCC is scheduled to hold auctions on this 700 MHz frequency spectrum and seems to move toward auction rule change in favor of a partial Open Access plan that will require the highest bidder to use a third of the airwaves to build a network that is available to all wireless devices and services. It is most likely the FCC will decide for the partial Open Access. Google indicated its participation in the forthcoming auction in efforts to achieve full open access plans,also known as "wholesale measures", which are neither fully accepted by FCC nor by mobile carriers, like AT&T and Verizon. However, AT&T and Verizon opted for the partial Open Access, while Sprint Next is bent on building WiMAX networks across the continental USA. WiMAX stresses the interoperability in terms of equipment and applications. By and large, mobile technology takes center stage in communications and is unpredictable about its future course for now, and makes "what had been unthinkable a few years before" happen. Its cladogenetic evolution is proceeding at a dizzying pace, and this is why mobile content providers are concerned that 'network gatekeepers' like mobile carriers might end up stifling innovation and freer content distribution. Mobile search, mobile marketing, and mobile advertising are the fast-growing segments of telecom industry and, as one industry executive said, 'blurring borderline between telecom and media industries' is getting more conspicuous. In other words, 'open access' is the name of the game for media giants and telecom operators and is entering a new phase of business alliance among media companies mobile carriers. It has a great significance to both industry insiders and consumers that the recent alliance of Google and Sprint Nextel in WiMax means a remarkable technology upgrade by Google from citywide WiFi networks to wider area WiMAX networks and signals the start of Google's big push into "mobile market". LAYERS IN DATA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE The interesting layers in a data communication system architecture for terrestrial Optical Fibre Communication include:
SEE ALSO 700 Mhz Wireless Spectrum Auction EXTERNAL LINKS
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