FCC to Propose Spectrum for "Free or Low Cost" Broadband Access

The Federal Communications Commission appears to be ready to license some spectrum, as part of its proposed national broadband plan, for free or very-low-cost access. It is not clear whether the agency envisions giving a single national operator the entire frequency block, whether it will license the spectrum for free or for fee, or whether the plan mirrors other proposals that have been advanced.

FCC statement

The FCC has provided no additional details, but the thought is not new. Outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin in 2008 had pushed for action on a plan to offer free, pornography-free wireless Internet service to about 95 percent of the country, using about 6 MHz of spectrum in a block of about 25 MHz. The licensee would have been free to create a revenue-generating plan using about 19 MHz.

The FCC's proposal mirrored a plan offered by M2Z Networks, which has been proposing
 providing free, wireless, family-friendly service at speeds of 512 kbps, providing a basic and relatively slow 384 kbps for downloads and 128 kbps for uploads.

M2Z Networks had proposed using AWS-3 spectrum in the 2155-2180 MHz band.

Advertising revenue would support the free service, while M2Z also proposed offering faster "for fee" services at speeds up to 3 Mbps.

M2Z also has said it would pay the government about five percent of revenues from such a service.