The FCC, at Chairman Kevin Martin’s urging is paving the way for a nationwide network that will offer free wireless connectivity, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Wireless companies and some lawmakers have raised concerns about the plan, because the proposed auction rules appear to favor M2Z Networks Inc., a Kleiner Perkins-backed start-up that originally floated the free-Internet plan two years ago.
M2Z originally asked the FCC to give it a national 25 megahertz block of airwaves to build a national wireless Internet network. The start-up said it could pay for the build-out via advertising and a subscription-based plan for consumers willing to pay more for faster service.
100 million Americans currently lack broadband services.
