There is no question that the United States lags behind most industrialized nations in consumer access to broadband Internet service. For many policy makers and activists, this shortfall marks the latest phase in the struggle to overcome the digital divide. To remedy this lack of broadband affordability and availability, one start-up firm--with considerable backing from Silicon Valley companies--has proposed a radical plan to build a nationwide wireless system that would provide essentially free broadband access. Last May, M2Z Networks Inc. asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant it national rights to a little-used slice of the broadband spectrum. Gaining control of the requested spectrum band would enable M2Z to build a nationwide system that provides wireless Internet access to anyone whose computer is equipped with an access card or access chip. M2Z's proposal to control nationwide access of the 2155 to 2175 MHz range of the broadband spectrum has shaken up conventional thinking about how universal broadband service can be brought to consumers. As cellular phones and other technologies have been introduced in recent decades, the FCC has auctioned off spectrum space by geographical markets. The space goes to the highest bidder, bringing billions of dollars of revenue to the government. If M2Z's proposal is approved, the FCC would forgo auction revenues. The company, however, has offered to pay the U.S. Treasury 5 percent of its revenues from a premium service it plans along with the free service.