Also from the article:
"Cities may want Wi-Fi to bridge the digital divide. But many of their
potential partners -- such as Sprint, MCI (MCIP ), and satellite TV
provider EchoStar -- are old rivals to the Bell and cable companies and
see wireless as a way to compete with their enemies. While Internet
service providers such as Earthlink can still make deals with the Bells
and cable outfits for delivery of services, "it's essential now for
[such] companies to figure out an alternative way to get into people's
homes," says Ronald A. Sege, chief executive of Tropos Networks, a
wireless-broadband equipment vendor in Sunnyvale, Calif."
The Mayor and Council blissfully believe they're going to get something
for nothing. They'll tie the City to a long-term contract for City
communication services on a privately owned network. In return, the
company is supposed to bridge the digital divide for the City. All at
no cost to the taxpayers - as long as you don't count what we're paying
for City services on the private network, or the franchise fees tacked
onto business and residential services on the new network, or the
premium paid once the provider does "get into people's homes".
The other thing to note is the cost range on the network - $15 to $35
million, compared to $18 million for Philadelphia (which has about 2.5
times the area and 3 times the population). Part of this is because
Minneapolis intends to use the network for emergency services while
Philadelphia does not. It would be helpful to citizens if the City
would explain exactly what infrastructure and services they are
requiring their private suitors to provide, and how the costs break
down among these requirements. Philadelphia expects to save about $2
million per year in city communications costs because they'll be buying
capacity at wholesale. How much does Minneapolis expect to save?
There are alternatives. The City could contract directly with companies
like Tropos that provide network components but are not service
providers, as Chaska did. It could contract for the building and
maintenance of a turnkey operation that will be publicly owned, as
Philadelphia is doing and as Miami Beach just announced they will do.
As an aside, Verizon sure is getting a lot of mileage from the
credulous press about its great deal on DSL (just like it has gotten a
lot of mileage out of its EDVO service - "broadband" connections of
maybe half a Mbps for $80 per month - because reporters just rewrite
the press release).
MuniWireless gives a good explanation of the fine print
http://muniwireless.com/community/818
Becca Vargo Daggett
Seward
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