In its bid to win Federal Communications Commission approval for a national free broadband service, M2Z Networks has enlisted the support of Jackson, Mississippi.

Forbes magazine lists Jackson as number 80 of the 200 Best Places for Businesses and Careers, M2Z's latest FCC filing notes. But the firm says that it can help Jackson do even better.

"Universal broadband access will provide Jackson with a competitive advantage to attract new companies and residents," the M2Z Powerpoint presentation says. And M2Z's "family friendly" broadband system "will allow children to utilize the Internet safely, expanding educational opportunity."

M2Z and three Jackson city officials met with FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate on May 17th to extol the virtues of M2Z's proposal for a "family-friendly, free, nationwide wireless broadband service."

The Commission has been running a proceeding on the plan since May of 2006. In exchange for access to the 2155-2175 MHz spectrum range, M2Z pledges to:

• provide an advertiser based national broadband service that consumers will from their computers like television after they purchase a "relatively inexpensive M2Z-certified reception device available from various competitive vendors."
• include a "compulsory setting" in the system "that will utilize state of the art network filtering technology to take every reasonable and available step to block access to sites purveying pornographic, obscene or indecent material." The service will filter porn out "without the need for special end-user software," the company promises.
• make the network available to any public safety organization without putting any limits of the number of devices used.
• pay the U.S. Treasury five percent of its gross revenues from its "Premium Service."

M2Z's top promise: "Free wireless broadband access to 95 percent of the American population within 10 years."

The filing also disclosed that M2Z is in "advanced discussion" with Jackson officials to bring wireless broadband to the city by the end of next year.

In addition to Commissioner Tate, M2Z and Jackson reps have taken their proposal to assistants to FCC Commissioners Michael Copps, Jonathan Adelstein, Robert McDowell, and FCC Chair Kevin Martin.

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