Ten public interest groups told the FCC that M2Z's proposal for a nationwide, free wireless broadband network at 2.1 GHz is attractive but has too many failings to support. Instead, the groups urged the agency to examine making the spectrum available for unlicensed use or through a license but with strict conditions imposing open access requirements. Google made similar arguments in a separate filing with the agency. The comments added to a flurry of activity at the FCC on an AWS III auction, short for advanced wireless services, of 2.1 GHz spectrum.

Critics of US spectrum policy will have plenty of ammunition for their howitzers after reading the new working paper (PDF) from J.H. Snider of the New America Foundation. Snider heads up the Wireless Future Program at New America, and his paper offers an inside look at the sometimes-dirty world of spectrum lobbying, which Snider characterizes as responsible for a $480 billion giveaway from the public treasury.

The U.S. government has given away between $140 billion and $480 billion worth of radio spectrum to wireless providers and broadcasters since 1993, according to a study released Tuesday.

A broad group of 29 executives at high-tech companies and public interest groups sent all members of Congress a letter asking for their support in opening broadcast "white spaces" for use in offering wireless broadband. Signers included companies like Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Intel, and public interest groups from the New America Foundation to the Consumer Federation of America.