New Bill Proposes Free Wireless Access Across U.S. Within Decade

A Bill recently introduced by two lawmakers, one a Silicon Valley Democrat in the U.S. Congress, seeks to make America one giant free wireless hotspot within a decade. The proposed law was written by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, two U.S. House members. The legislation would be paid for by auctioning the unused radio spectrum. In exchange for accepting the winner's bid, the company must offer a free, wireless broadband network reaching 95% of the American population within ten years. The name of the Bill is the Wireless Internet Nationwide for Families Act.

One part of the law would establish a service that gives tools to protect youth from obscene content. Cannon claims the Bill would be most helpful to rural America where it is often difficult to find service not dependent upon the phone system. He says the law would help the United States catch up to other nations with a more robust Internet grid, stating “We must ensure that this alarming trend is reversed and that all Americans, including those living in our states in the West, have reliable and affordable high bandwidth broadband Internet connections." There is little doubt the Bill will receive strenuous opposition, especially from Internet service providers who would not take such a challenge sitting down. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce now has a draft of the proposed legislation.

Representative Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) introduced the Bill, which would cause the Federal Communications Commission to auction off the band of wireless spectrum between 2,155 megahertz and 2,180MHz that is now unused. Another sponsor is Rep. Ed Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who leads a House telecommunications and Internet panel. Eshoo claims that one reason she developed the Bill is that the big wireless carriers snatched up most of the available airwaves in a recent auction and that this kind of domination by a few groups will not help those living in outlying areas get the Internet they need.

According to CNet news, The proposal will: “begin offering "always-on" broadband service within two years of receiving the license; offer a service free of subscription fees, airtime, usage or other charges to consumers and "authorized public safety users"; ensure the service offers at least 200 kilobits per second transmission speeds in at least one direction (a far cry from the 768 kilobits per second speeds associated with most entry-level DSL lines); outfit the free service with "a technology protection measure or measures that protect underage users from accessing obscene or indecent material through such service"; publish royalty-free standards so that others can develop and deploy equipment that can operate on the network.”

Eshoo said, “While the auction required under this legislation is open to anyone, it is my hope that the bold conditions of requiring free, family friendly service will encourage the entry of a new kind of national broadband service provider.” She claims her entire motivation was "primarily to provide alternative means of broadband access for more Americans, and this fallow spectrum seemed to be a real opportunity."

The Bill brings up an issue of criticism to many Internet businesses and enthusiasts in America who feel the States lags behind global competition. Tech analyst and author Thomas Bleha claims the United States will lose big if it does not address the issue of widespread broadband coverage. He argues broadband access has implications well beyond faster Web browsing. He points out that full-scale adoption of high-speed access in Asian and Europe has fueled economic growth, tech innovation and made overall quality of life better. Bleha said, “There are myriad benefits across the economy. In corporate communications alone, data transfer, collaborative working and telecommuting amount to a big competitive advantage."

Bleha also mentioned a 2001 study by economist Robert Crandall and Net consultant Charles Jackson that showed widespread broadband access could add half a trillion dollars to the economy and create over a million new jobs in the coming decade.