Buzzword: Open access

Cellular interference brings us this week’s Marketplace Money buzzword: Open access.

Open access is the idea that part of the public airwaves should be open for anyone to use. Some big wireless phone companies aren’t fans of open access, ’cause now they license the airwaves and they don’t want competition.

But the Fed will soon auction some of the airwave spectrum. One potential bidder is Google. Google has promised to bid billions for these frequencies — if the Fed guarantees anyone could have open access to them.

Will the deal go through, opening up competition and driving down prices? Please hold.