wireless broadband service

The Federal Communications Commission revealed broad outlines Wednesday for the national broadband plan it is scheduled to submit to Congress early next year. One of the major challenges is to more effectively use the nation's existing telecommunication assets -- including the available wireless spectrum, which is facing impending shortages -- according to a report from the FCC's broadband task force.

AT&T Inc. is going to go beyond cell phones and test selling laptops in its stores in Atlanta and Philadelphia.

The move, announced Wednesday at a trade show in Las Vegas, comes as the cell phone market is starting to saturate, and wireless carriers are looking for ways to expand into other gadgets.

Last May some of the biggest names in the technology and media business, including Intel Google, Sprint, and Comcast, teamed up to invest $3.2 billion in the startup Clearwire. The Kirkland [Wash.] company founded by entrepreneur Craig McCaw had high hopes of shaking up the wireless industry. The idea was that Clearwire would offer an alternative to the two big incumbent U.S. operators, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, by rolling out a technology called WiMAX that could provide superfast Internet service for cell phones, laptops, and other devices.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin told media outlets this week that he is willing to drop a porn-blocking provision to win approval of a free U.S. wireless broadband service.

Under the FCC's Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) plan, frequencies in the 2155-2180-MHz band would be auctioned off, with the winning bidder required to devote up to 25 percent of the spectrum to a free Internet broadband with a minimum download rate of 768 Kbps.