The FCC is sticking with its idea of auctioning off a swath of airwaves that will require the buyers to provide free broadband internet, which will be filtered to exclude pornography and other obscene content. The agency is now asking for public opinions on the plan, reports Reuters. We are wondering how a plan of this magnitude can be successful. It calls for the winning bidder to aggressively build a nationwide network, starting with covering at least half of the U.S. within four years, and at least 95 percent of the population within 10 years.

Meanwhile, I’m sure no one can help but notice that Wi-Fi providers, such as EarthLink and MetroFi, have been shutting down their city-wide networks despite the fact that they have tried both ad-supported and subscription business plans. All nine of MetroFi’s city networks, including the one in Portland, Ore., is expected to be shut down by the end of the month. And, last week, Philadelphia, which may have been one of the earliest and largest proponents of a citywide Wi-Fi effort, said last week it reached an agreement with a local investor group called Network Acquisition Company to take over network’s operations, according to FierceWirelessBroadband.

The winning bidder would not only face the same business environment as these providers, but also going forward it will encounter more competition from pay providers, such as the legacy wireless operators and Clearwire (NSDQ: CLWR), which will have to spend billions of dollars to roll out 4G high-speed networks. Obviously, the FCC is trying to do a positive thing by getting internet access into the hands of everyone, but the hurdles are undeniable. In both MetroFi’s and EarthLink’s cases, the company’s used free, unlicensed airwaves. In the FCC’s scenario, they’ll expect the company to purchase the airwaves though an auction. Are we missing what the obvious business plan is here: how does a company make money when they must buy access to the airwaves, maintain an aggressive build-rate, and then offer a free product? What would your comment be to the FCC?