Interesting alternative view on the muni-broadband issue from Earthlink.
- Dustin -
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [CYBERTEL] Muniwireless.co: Earthlink's statement at NYC
broadband hearing
Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2005 10:00:19 -0500
From: Frank Coluccio <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: Telecom Regulation & the Internet
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Earthlink's statement at NYC broadband hearing
Posted to the http://www.muniwireless.com blog
June 19, 2005
---begin:
Here's the presentation given by Brinton Young, Executive Vice President of
Strategy for EarthLink, at the June 10 NYC broadband hearing. Last week I wrote
that he offered to provide wireless broadband to New York for under $20 per
month
(1 Mbps). His statement also criticizes the city's light pole rental price:
"Good morning. Thank you for giving me the chance to speak to you today. My name
is Brinton Young and I run strategy at EarthLink. I live in Pasadena California
but I’m glad to be back in New York City. My mother is a Brooklyn girl. And I
have many happy memories of vacations and Christmas in this city, the city that
sets the world standard for excellence in so many of the arts and professions.
EarthLink is an ISP. Our mission is to connect people to the Internet, and to
deliver the best possible Internet experience to them. Today EarthLink offers
service to over 5 million subscribers through dialup, cable, DSL and satellite,
as well as mobile wireless. We have over a million broadband customers and have
won the JD Powers Customer Satisfaction award for three years. But we have a
problem and it is a problem we share with America. Broadband is too expensive.
Two monopolies control the last mile to the home, EarthLink can buy access to
that last mile from them, but at a high price, too high for us to turn it into a
retail service, offer it to the public at a great price and make a return.
Finding a cost effective third pipe to the home, to create level playing field
for EarthLink to compete in broadband is our number one strategic challenge at
EarthLink. For the last three years , we have done a lot of digging into the
next
generation of broadband technologies, digging in the form of trials, field
tests,
investments. There are many candidates – WiMax and other emerging wireless,
broadband over electrical power lines, to name a couple of promising categories.
But today I want to focus on a particular approach to the last mile which I
believe is ready to meet the need for affordable broadband access. It is Wi-Fi
technology deployed in a mesh. The same Wi-Fi used for local networking and hot
spots can be used to provide broadband to the home. In this system, Wi-Fi radios
are be deployed on light poles in a grid throughout the city, spaced about 1200
feet apart. Internet traffic passes through this mesh into the home of the
consumer. With the right equipment inside the customer’s home, it will deliver
about 1 megabit per second downstream.
The power of this system is its low cost. It leverages the low cost of Wi-Fi
chips, of which 50 million units are shipped annually in the US alone. It can be
deployed for less than $25 per household passed. It doesn’t need outdoor
antennae
or professional installers. I have seen it working in Chaska, Minnesota where
the
service is offered for $15.95 a month and 30% of the town has signed up.
Here’s the point. Using this technology, we believe EarthLink can deliver 1
mbps
broadband for a retail price under $20. We are prepared to work with the city to
make that happen.
Here’s the catch. We need access to the light poles. The economic model does
not
work with pole rentals of $60 per month, much less $250 per month, when the
electricity usage costs less than a $1. In order to enable this low cost
technology, the city needs to make its light poles available for a couple of
dollars a month.
Does the density of NYC present challenges? Of course. Are there technical
issues
still to be addressed and tested before we would be confident enough to build
out
the whole city? Of course, but we, together with our equipment partners, are
working on them. Would a phased rollout be prudent? Yes, we think so.
Is it important for kids to have broadband? Of course it is. My 11- and
12-year-old girls use it every night for their homework. Should government care
about universal broadband access? Both Presidential candidates in the last
election thought it was important. Does that mean the city of New York has to
get
in the business of building and running networks? No, it does not, but the city
can facilitate the deployment of those networks by partnering with the private
sector. EarthLink is prepared to be that partner."
Technorati Tags: citywide Wi-Fi, municipal wi-fi, municipal wireless
Posted by Muniwireless June 19, 2005
---end
Frank A. Coluccio
DTI Consulting Inc.
212-587-8150 Office
347-526-6788 Mobile
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