MediaBuyerPlanner: Hoping to hasten broadband internet use and lower prices by creating competition for the cable and telephone giants currently dominating the web, M2Z Networks has asked the FCC for permission to use free of charge a band of radio spectrum for its free high-speed, nation-wide wireless internet network, writes MediaWeek.

In the 127-page application the Silicon Valley-based company filed earlier this month with the FCC, M2Z said in order to send and receive wireless signals it would need 20 megahertz of radio spectrum - enough to deliver M2Z's proposed free web access at 384 kilobits a second, some six times the speed of dial-up.

M2Z has offered to give the government five percent of the revenue it generates from offering a premium service for $30 a month or less.

Download a pdf of the FCC application.