The FCC today voted on rules for use of the 700 MHz spectrum which will come up for auction next year. Early reports from the meeting indicate Chairman Kevin Martin's proposal for open access will be a condition on about one-third of the lots - winners of those airwaves will have to allow any non-threatening devices and software to run on their networks. The FCC did not approve Google's request that winners be forced to sell access to their networks on a wholesale basis.

The 700MHz range -- which is being vacated by television broadcasters going digital -- is desirable because of its ability to travel long distances and easily penetrate walls, and Martin feels it could provide a "third pipe" to US homes, circumventing the established stranglehold cable and telephone companies have on bandwidth. A total of 60 megahertz will be auctioned off, with twenty-two of them "open," and another 10 set aside for a "national public safety" network. The auctioning off of the frequency is expected to raise as much as $15 billion for the federal treasury.