Unlocked Cell Phones Could Be Coming to U.S.

Score one for the power of forcible deregulation: Cell phone companies will start venturing into the valuable 700MHz spectrum space next year, a swath of frequency currently used by television broadcasters that is about to be vacated. If FCC chairman Kevin Martin has his ways, one of the terms for using this space will be that devices used on the spectrum must be open, saying, "You can use any wireless device and download any mobile broadband application, with no restrictions."

If Martin's proposal is adopted, this could have an enormous impact on the next generation of handhelds. Nearly every cell phone sold in the U.S. today is locked, crippled, or otherwise prevented from running applications that a user wants. As this Yahoo! News story notes, the iPhone has already become the poster child for barbaric restrictions, preventing users from downloading files from the Internet, making their own ring tones, or installing their own applications. The proposal would end all of that, forcing carriers to basically let consumers do whatever they want with the equipment they've purchased.

Of course, Martin's rules would apply only to gear on the 700MHz spectrum and not gadgets already on the market or those running on the current networks.

While the 700MHz spectrum is a highly desirable one for cell phone carriers, Martin's rules could actually keep carriers from jumping headlong into 700MHz since they're so obsessed with keeping their iron fists firmly gripped around their hardware. Still, mandating openness in the cell phone market is a long overdue move in the U.S., and I'm hoping some progressive carrier (T-Mobile, maybe?) will see just how big this could be for business and will jump right in.

Let's make this happen, FCC! We're falling so far behind the rest of the world in the cell phone market it's ridiculous.

LINK: New rules could rock wireless world