Skype blasts CTIA over "open" networks

In another letter to the FCC, Skype's Senior Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs Chris Libertelli blasted the CTIA and Sprint Nextel for writing the FCC and claiming that the "entire Internet is open" when in fact, even the most-recently announced handsets still block the Skype application, proving that the claim of openness is false.

Libertelli also said that the CTIA's claim of openness in the wireless industry directly contradicts that association's current litigation with the FCC in which it wants the commission to "overturn the very openness rule they now claim to embrace," Libertelli writes. If the wireless industry is serious about openness, Libertelli says, CTIA would immediately withdraw that litigation.

Open networks is a major theme in the industry right now and was a hot topic at the CTIA I.T. and Entertainment conference in San Francisco last month. Last April while speaking at the CTIA Wireless conference,  FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told the audience that the FCC would deny Skype's petition to apply the Carterphone rules to the mobile phone industry. The Carterphone rules were enacted in the 1960s to force the POTS industry to allow devices other than those provided by the old AT&T to connect to the network. However, at this time, the petition has not been dismissed.

For more:
- see Libertelli's letter to the FCC [1]

Related articles:
Skype [2] official calls out carriers on "open" networks
CTIA: Carriers [3] talk "open" network but no clear definition
CTIA Day 1 Keynote: FCC chairman dismisses Skype [4] petition