What will happen if the telcos win the FCC’s upcoming wireless auction? Forbes Magazine goes through the possible scenarios and comes to the conclusion that a shake-up is “inevitable” should Google (NSDQ: GOOG) prevail, while it will be business as usual—read “innovation will suffer”--if traditional carriers such as AT&T (NYSE: T) or Verizon (NYSE: VZ) win.

Telcos are once again painted as the lumbering, wary giants who are being dragged kicking and screaming toward innovation, and believe that consumers really just want voice calls. There’s a priceless quote from AT&T Mobility Chief Executive Ralph de la Vega who says, “I have yet to get a letter from a customer asking for open access.”

To be fair, AT&T and Verizon have rolled out some data applications to stay competitive edge and data services are only likely to get better no matter who wins. The operators have made noises about upgrading their network to 4G technology. Plus, the telcos know what they are doing and as the article points out, with “a seasoned hand in charge,” the roll out of services will at least be a smooth one. But if consumers are looking for lower prices from the telcos they can forget about it. As Farpoint Group analyst Craig Mathias noted prices have already been going up, and if networks are going to add more data services and spend billions on their network, prices are going to be coming down.

RCR News has a post about concerns people have the the fall of Frontline could hinder plans for the open access rules—if the reserve isn’t met the could get thrown out altogether.

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