good summary of recent developments in the Muni WiFi struggle in the US
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http://www.internetweek.com/168601371
August 12, 2005
Government Bridging The Digital Divide
By Christopher T. Heun
InternetWeek
During the last four years, as the United States slipped from fourth
to 16th in the world in broadband Internet access, the major
telecommunications companies have been either unable or unwilling to
provide better connectivity. In response, many cities and towns are
building the high-speed wireless networks themselves.
Between 250 and 300 municipalities across the country have invested
in the technology or begun plans to do so. One of the most recent is
New Haven, Conn., which said Tuesday it had hired municipal broadband
consultancy Civitium to begin the first steps of planning a network.
Civitium has also advised Houston, Portland, Miami Beach, Fla., and
Philadelphia, home of the nation’s most ambitious project covering
135 square miles and a population of 1.5 million.
Advocates say making high-speed wireless Internet access affordable,
and available in low-income areas that do not currently have it, will
bridge the digital divide and translate into improved educational
opportunities and economic growth. There’s also the potential for
police and emergency services to reduce response times, and even,
using remote cameras, do things like ease traffic congestion and read
parking meters.
“A lot of cities are getting involved in this specifically because
they’ve been lied to and burned by the telecom companies, and they’ve
thrown up their hands and said enough,” says Dana Spiegel, a software
consultant and executive director of NYCwireless, a nonprofit that
has helped set up dozens of free public wireless hotspots in New York
City since 2001. “If a city decides for the benefit of all residents
that everyone should have access to broadband services at an
affordable rate and if Verizon (Communications) or SBC
(Communications) is not doing that, then the city should have the
right to do that."
But don’t tell that to companies like Verizon, who have cried foul --
and lobbied successfully in 14 states to restrict such municipal
wireless projects or block them outright -- claiming they’re an
unfair use of taxpayer money. (Philadelphia managed a last second
dodge from a Pennsylvania ban.) But very few cities are out to become
door-to-door deliverymen of subsidized Internet service. In a survey
of networks developed by 83 towns and cities, JupiterResearch found
nearly two-thirds are designed for government and commercial use;
only 4 percent are dedicated solely to serving wireless broadband to
residents and businesses. In fact, the goals of municipal networks
are three times as likely to be economic development and IT cost
savings than universal accessibility.
That’s certainly the case for the city of Philadelphia, which has
chosen a wholesale business model. It contracts with ISPs to deliver
broadband to homes and businesses and uses that revenue to pay the
debt service on building the network and generate the cash to service
it. Dianah Neff, Philadelphia’s chief information officer, estimates
the city can save $2 million annually on telecom costs and cut in
half what its remote facilities pay for T1 lines.
The biggest draw, though, is bringing broadband Internet to low-
income communities, where such a thing is rare, for about $20 month.
“We have a vibrant downtown but we have failing neighborhoods,” she
says. “You can’t leave a third of your population behind.”
In addition to providing the link to the Internet, Philadelphia will
coordinate with school districts to distribute 10,000 computers to
low-income homes in the next five years along with the necessary
training. Local nonprofits, paid by the city, will provide tech support.
That outreach is key, Neff has told the more than 100 cities who have
sought her advice. “The neighborhood approach, using existing
nonprofits that a community knows, is the best way,” she says. “You
can’t just go in and assume you know what a neighborhood needs.”
The cost for all this? Roughly $150,000 per square mile over five
years is the JupiterResearch estimate, with one-third of costs coming
up front. JupiterResearch doesn’t paint a very rosy picture when it
comes to profits: just 54 percent of the initiatives will break even
charging $25 per user per month; that figure climbs to 88 percent
when the monthly fee is raised to $100.
But Neff disagrees. She projects Philadelphia will spend much less,
about $10 million on infrastructure, financed through private
investment, grants and sales of taxable bonds; with total costs
reaching $18 million, her costs are between $70,000 to $100,000 per
square mile, she says. Construction will begin late next month, once
a broadband provider is chosen.
As in Philadelphia, JupiterResearch found in its survey that a little
cooperation goes a long way to reduce costs and share risks.
Governments bring purchasing power and right of way on light poles,
which are great for setting up wireless antennas. ISPs can manage the
infrastructure and use it to extend their networks while cross-
selling other telecom services, such as backhaul bandwidth.
Corpus Christi, Texas, which owns its network, is teaming up with
ISPs to offer public access. Created in 2003 for automated meter
reading, the network will be expanded to include building inspection
and computer dispatching for public safety units.
In Las Vegas, local ISP Cheetah Wireless owns and operates the
network, and the city, as anchor tenant, trades its installation
crews and real estate in exchange for credits to monitor
intersections to reduce traffic congestion and improve public safety.
Complicating matters, those cities and others may soon face a
different set of rules. The 1996 Telecom Act is headed for a rewrite,
and two Republican-proposed bills, one by Nevada Sen. John Ensign and
the other by Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, a former SBC employee, would
limit the power of municipalities to build their own broadband
networks. In response, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Frank
Lautenberg, D-N.J., have proposed a bipartisan Senate bill that would
protect that right.
Cable and DSL providers control nearly 98 percent of the residential
and small business broadband market, and yet the Federal
Communications Commission, which recently eliminated “open access”
requirements for DSL companies to lease their lines, ignores the lack
of competition, according to the media reform group Free Press. “We
don’t have competitive broadband markets,” says Ben Scott, Free Press
policy director.
In a report released this week by Free Press, the Consumer Federation
of America and Consumers Union, the groups recommend that Congress
ensure open access to all high-speed communications networks, remove
restrictions on public entities that seek to offer broadband services
to consumers and open up more of the broadcast spectrum for wireless
Internet applications.
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