Free Internet Prospects Dim

Martin: Free Internet Prospects Dim

Posted by Sam Churchill on December 29th, 2008

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin does not see much chance of getting his free broadband proposal out the door before he exits in mid-January, says Broadcast and Cable Magazine.

Martin talked about that and more with B&C Washington Bureau Chief John Eggerton in the January 5, 2009, issue of Broadcasting & Cable.

What is the status of your free broadband proposal?

It is still on circulation, and I would only hope the other commissioners could end up voting it. We are in court right now because the party has claimed that we have a statutory deadline that we missed. We disagree with that.

But at the request of the other commissioners, we put in the order that we would have to act on this by August 2008. That deadline has come and gone, and the commissioners are unwilling to move forward. I put out a memo that had three different options, including “do nothing.” They didn’t even want to pick the “do nothing” if that is what they wanted.

It is still on circulation and I can only hope the commissioners would actually be willing to do something about providing an opportunity for lower-income Americans to have access to broadband.

Doesn’t sound like there’s much chance of doing that while you are still chairman?

I don’t disagree that the prospects are dim. But listen, if they don’t get it done by Jan. 20, I hope they do it right away after.

The cancelled hearing has not slowed down M2Z Networks, reports RCR Wireless News

John Muleta, CEO of M2Z, insists that the FCC’s recent cancellation of a hearing to discuss auction plans for the AWS-3 spectrum has not weakened the company’s spirits. Muleta still believes that the free broadband initiative M2Z has planned is a sound business model and will continue to push for the spectrum needed to run the service.

source : dailywireless.org