Much has been made in the past couple years about “open access” networks and devices.  From the FCC’s 700MHz C Block open access rules to debates about Net Neutrality, folks have been heavily interested in what open access entails and its implications for the tech industry as a whole. Well, all of that pontificating about what open access means could come to a head very soon, courtesy of a very unlikely culprit.

You probably have heard about the $850 billion dollar planned stimulus plan currently under consideration by Congress.  You may have even heard that the current version of the bill includes provisions to stimulate broadband deployment.  What you might not have heard about is that some provisions, buried deep in the several hundred pages of text, create grants for the development of broadband networks that operate on an open access basis.

Sound great? Only if we can agree on what an “open access” network is, and if conditioning grants on said “open access” status is in the public interest.  That is why the bill, as of the date of this post, requires the FCC to define what “open access” and “wireless open access” means within 45 days of the passage of the bill.

This is likely to be a very contentious issue.  Does “open access” include protocol and source-agnostic methods of traffic management? No traffic management at all? Does it mean you can plug into the network with any device? Only devices approved by the network provider? These, and a host of other questions are likely to be raised in whatever proceeding the FCC undertakes to define “open access” and “wireless open access”.  Pay attention to this issue; it is likely to heat up in the next couple months.