Private Sector Anchors New Orleans Telecom Revival
Written By: Steven Titch
Published In: IT&T News
Publication Date: December 1, 2006
Publisher: The Heartland Institute
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20216
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New Orleans officials have announced they will shut down the city’s
municipal wireless network to avoid interference problems with
EarthLink, which has been constructing a second, more widespread WiFi
network under a city contract awarded in May.
The city system, which had been operating at 300 kb/s, slower than
conventional WiFi, had been available for free.
The decision, coming in the face of more than $1 billion in private
investment and new fiber and wireless build-out in New Orleans, ends
more than a year of effort by the city government to take a competitive
role in the rebuilding of the city’s telecom network.
Like much of the city’s infrastructure, the telecommunications network
suffered massive damage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In addition to
hundreds of poles and miles of copper lines, BellSouth, the city’s local
exchange carrier, lost 34 central offices, nine of which were completely
destroyed.
The city courted controversy when Mayor C. Ray Nagin announced plans to
use the emergency wireless system as a springboard to develop a free
citywide municipal wireless service, a move that would have required a
change in Louisiana law. BellSouth opposed the idea for fear it would
discourage private investment.
In March, city officials, speaking to USA Today, accused BellSouth of
attempting to shut down the city wireless service, a charge the company
denied. Exchanges grew less heated after Nagin backed down from the
municipal plan, choosing instead to award a city contract to EarthLink,
which plans to spend some $15 million over the next three years on the
new wireless network. The company agreed to continue free service for a
limited time.
Meanwhile, BellSouth is investing $1 billion in the rebuilding effort,
which includes replacing 100,000 copper pairs that connect homes and
businesses to the network. The lost central office switches have been
replaced with up-to-date gigabit Ethernet switches and routers, which
will be able to support fiber-to-the-home platforms, according to
Network World, an industry newspaper. BellSouth is also setting up a
“pre-WiMax” service for area businesses.
At the same time, Verizon has replaced aerial fiber routes acquired in
the MCI deal with new buried routes. It also had to replace several
signal regeneration facilities.
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Steven Titch ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) is senior fellow for IT and telecom
policy for The Heartland Institute and managing editor of IT&T News.
Regards,
Peter Radizeski
RAD-INFO, Inc. - NSP Strategist
We Help ISPs Connect & Communicate
813.963.5884 efax 530-323-7025
http://4isps.com
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