Open-access proponents point fingers

The open-access policy debate, which raged last year and then curiously subsided after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said the agency should not force wireless networks to give unfettered access to third-party devices and applications, is once again alive. The issue appears to have been re-energized by a confluence of forces, though there is little indication the cellphone industry -- whose largest players have vowed to loosen their iron-clad grip on networks -- is losing any ground in its campaign to fend off a wholesale open-access mandate.