Verizon Wireless to go open access

Verizon Wireless announced plans to open its network to allow subscribers to connect any device and to use any application as long as it meets some "minimal technical requirements." The carrier's new policy is called "Any Apps, Any Device," which should roll out across Verizon's network by the end of next year. The carrier plans to disclose the technical standards that devices must meet to gain activation on its network early next year. After the requirements are published, Verizon Wireless plans to host a conference for developers to explain how they can "achieve the company's goals for network performance" when writing software for the devices, which will have to be CDMA-based.

During a conference call following the announcement, Verizon Wireless executives said that users could port CDMA phones from Sprint or even Korea to the network, as long as they work on the same frequencies. All phones brought to the network will carry a "very reasonable" cost of certification. The carrier reiterated that the phones must by CDMA, meaning the iPhone will not be supported.

"This isn't just phones," Verizon Wireless president and CEO Lowell McAdam said. "It could be a very small module in a gaming station, a home appliance, something that goes into your car. It doesn't have to have the traditional distribution or volumes," he said. In the past, "if a device is not going to sell hundreds of thousands, it's hard to decide because of our scale, but now, if something only sells five, now it can be on our network."

For more on Verizon Wireless' Any Apps, Any Device plans:
-read this press release