The FCC was originally scheduled to vote on June 12 on a proposal to auction a piece of spectrum and require the winner to use some of it for free wireless Internet access Just as a cellular industry trade association released a scathing letter against a proposal that would deliver free wireless Internet access across the country, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided not to vote on the proposal next week as planned.The FCC had expected to vote on June 12 on a proposal to auction a 25MHz piece of spectrum in the 2155Mhz band and require the winner to use a specified amount of spectrum to deliver free wireless Internet access. The plan would also require the operator to use content filtering to ensure that underage people couldn’t access adult content over the connection.However, the schedule for next week’s meeting, posted on the FCC Web site on Thursday, does not include an item indicating that the group will discuss the auction plan. The item was removed from the agenda in order to give commissioners more time to review the proposal, an FCC spokeswoman said. The commission expects to add the proposal to the agenda for its July meeting. The FCC first floated the concept last year but the idea has generated a flurry of opposition from entrenched operators recently because the commission has said that it would vote on the plan next week. The chairman circulated the proposal that was to be voted on June 12 about two weeks ago, the spokeswoman said.On Thursday, the CTIA, a trade group representing mobile operators, said in an FCC filing that there is ample evidence that companies that offer free Internet access fail. It pointed to dial-up providers who tried it, such as NetZero and Juno, as well as the long list of free metropolitan Wi-Fi networks that have recently shut down.The operators have also expressed concern about some of the technical rules that the FCC is proposing, saying that they are sure to cause interference and thus degrade the quality of existing mobile services. The operators asked the FCC to offer more time and transparency into the technical details so that they can ensure existing services won’t be affected. This story was updated on June 6, 2008 Technology IndustrySoftware DevelopmentSmall and Medium Business