The Wireless Web: Free at Last?

[Commentary] With a stroke of a pen, the Federal Communications Commission could connect millions of minorities and poor Americans to broadband.

For several years, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition has supported a proposal that the FCC should auction the AWS-3 spectrum band and require that the winner provide a free tier of broadband service nationwide. The auction winner would also have to construct the network on an expedited schedule, and stiff penalties would apply if it fails to meet the designated milestones. The spectrum band, known as AWS-3, has been lying fallow for nearly 10 years. At present, not one consumer obtains broadband on those frequencies. The plan to establish a free nationwide network (first proposed in 2006) would put the spectrum band to immediate and productive use, ensuring that millions of Americans are not on the wrong side of the digital divide. What's more, it wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime.

Establishing a free broadband network promotes the public interest; more inexplicable delay does just the opposite.