Should the Internet be Free?

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M2Z Networks is trying to bid on a section of spectrum up for auction by the FCC in order to build a free family-friendly wireless broadband network for all Americans. But the big telecom companies are trying to prevent the auction from taking place largely because M2Z’s plan would introduce price competition into their marketplace.

AT&T and T-Mobile, two of the largest phone companies in the world, have used procedural tactics to delay the pending FCC vote twice this summer even though all five FCC Commissioners had voted in September 2007 to complete this important proceeding by an August 14, 2008 deadline. Key members of Congress have noted the concern that the FCC should not fall for these procedural gambits by incumbent carriers that are designed to protect their turf and prevent competition. “By every measure, the U.S. is losing the international broadband race and our competitiveness as a nation is at stake,” stated Representatives Anna G. Eshoo and Edward Markey in an August 7, 2008 letter to Kevin Martin, FCC Chairman. “We are concerned that unnecessary interference testing would needlessly delay this auction and that this constitutes the very rationale to kill this effort totally.”