Silicon Valley VCs eye AWS spectrum

A group of Silicon Valley venture capital firms reportedly are interested in undercutting carriers’ plans to bid on the Advanced Wireless Services spectrum this June, proposing instead to the FCC to allow them to set up a nationwide broadband wireless network.

Reuters today reported that Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Charles River Ventures and Redpoint Ventures are funding a company called M2Z, which is lobbying the FCC to award it the 2.1 GHz spectrum to create a nationwide broadband wireless network from which it would return 5% of the revenues to the government. Reuters also reported that M2Z was founded by former FCC Wireless Bureau head John Muleta and @Home creator Milo Medin.

The FCC is scheduled to auction 90 MHz of spectrum of the lower 1.7 GHz and lower 2.1 GHz on June 29. While many carriers will participate in the auction, T-Mobile in particular is expected to play a major role, needing the additional spectrum to rollout UMTS services.