Verizon Wireless has responded to Googles challenge by promising to open its mobile network to all devices and mobile Internet applications in 2008. Verizons announcement marks the changed course of the second-largest mobile carrier in the U.S., in response to Googles request for a more open U.S. wireless industry. In October 2007, Google introduced a package of free software in an attempt to stimulate the development of handsets that are open to any Internet service. In addition, Google also said that it may make a bid to build its own open wireless network. According to Verizon Wireless chief executive Lowell McAdam, the operator was responding to what it anticipated would be a tidal wave of innovation as technology companies race to produce new devices to handle wireless data, adding that the approximately 50 handsets currently supported by Verizons network could easily exceed 500 as soon as developers begin to take advantage of the new open network. However, McAdam cautioned that the full impact of Verizons move would depend on the details and that Verizon would not do anything that could jeopardize its current business model. U.S. mobile operator networks are more restrictive than many of their counterparts in other countries. The move to permit any service or device to access their networks could potentially reduce their role to commodity suppliers of bandwidth. Verizon said that it would make the technical specifications for handsets to connect to its network available early in 2008, adding that any new devices would first need to be tested at Verizons own labs to make sure that they do not damage the network. McAdam stated that consumers with new open handsets were likely to be charged based on the amount of bandwidth used.