County Executives of America Plans To Create National Wireless Broadband Network

The County Executives of America (CEA), an association of over 700 member counties across the country, said Monday April 26 it plans to create a nationwide wireless broadband network to provide free service to residents using AWS-3 spectrum held by the federal Communications Commission.

It has applied for $122 million in broadband stimulus bucks to launch the network in a dozen counties to start with, with Silicon Valley-based M2Z Networks building out the plant in each county. The counties where Internet service providers could be facing new competition from the network first are Allegheny County, Pa.; Bronx County, N.Y.; Chambers and Kaufmann Counties, Texas; DeKalb County, Ga.; Kenosha County, Wis.; New Castle County, Del.; Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, Md. CEA says that the biggest obstacle to adoption is cost, and that equal access to broadband by those who can't afford it is a "right of every American."