More U.S. Cities Pushing Public Wireless Nets

Aug. 22, 2005 — -- Local governments routinely provide water, sewer, sanitation, and emergency services such as police and fire. But pretty soon, you may be able to add low-cost -- perhaps even free -- wireless Internet access to the list.

Over the last few years, wireless Net, or Wi-Fi, technology has found an important place among digital consumers and access providers. And an increasing number of U.S. cities -- ranging from large metropolitan areas to small rural townships -- are jumping on the bandwagon.

Last week, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced plans to develop a Wi-Fi network system that would cover the main 49 square miles of metropolitan area south of the Golden Gate bridge. The system, which could cost as much as $18 million to build, would allow anyone within the City by the Bay high-speed wireless access to the Internet.

But San Francisco -- already considered one of America's high-tech meccas -- isn't the only U.S. municipality to announce such plans; nor is it the most notable.

In the past two years, more than two dozen cities have built or are planning to build similar so-called "metropolitan area networks," or MANs. The most ambitious MANs to date are being pursued by Corpus Christi, Texas, and Philadelphia -- projects that would cover 147 and 135 square miles, respectively.

Power to the People

The reasons to build such wide-ranging and publicly accessible networks are many. But chief among them, say proponents, is to help ease the so-called "digital divide." Since MANs would be built, funded and managed like other public service works, they could be low-cost Net access alternatives for low-income neighborhoods.

"We did a survey that showed in our low-income and disadvantaged neighborhoods, only 10 [percent] to 25 percent have Net access. Of those, 72 percent is with slower dial-up services," says Dianah Neff, chief information officer for the city of Philadelphia. "We believe that it [the Wireless Philadelphia MAN] will be helpful to those communities … to make sure that everyone has the basic skills and ability to compete in the knowledge economy."

MANs will also be beneficial to the public at large by allowing municipalities to improve their other services. With a ubiquitous Wi-Fi network, for example, emergency responders will be able to instantly retrieve maps or building blueprints as they rush to disaster sites.

Legal and Commercial Disputes

Still, developing unwired urban utopias hasn't gone uncontested or remained without controversy. Many cities that have proposed establishing such municipal networks have come under fire from both the commercial sector and legislatures.

Opponents say that municipal MANs are redundant efforts by local governments since many local telecommunications companies and cable TV concerns already offer faster wired -- and wireless -- Net connections. What's more, detractors say they may become yet another burden for taxpayers.

Last year, telecom giant Verizon went to court to block the Wireless Philadelphia project from proceeding, claiming that it allowed the city to unfairly compete for customers of high-speed connections. The matter was settled in December when Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Renell signed a law that allowed the city to proceed. However, other municipalities must first receive a written waiver from local telecom companies before building their MANs.

And other cities could soon face similar legal difficulties.

Already, more than 14 states have passed bills that restrict cities from offering broadband services to their constituents. At the federal level, Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas has introduced a bill outlining similar prohibitions against municipally built networks.

A Place for Public and Private Cooperation

MAN proponents say that many of the complaints by commercial ventures are unfounded.

"There's a misconception that there are taxpayer dollars in play here," says Greg Richardson, founder of Civitium, an Atlanta-based consulting group that assists cities in planning and building MANS. "That's not always the case. If you look at the U.S. cities -- the major cities proposing these [MANs] -- for the most part, they are pursuing [revenue] models that are cooperative with private companies."

In the Wireless Philadelphia project, for example, Neff is seeking cooperation from communications and technology companies to build the city's MAN. The companies will have access to city infrastructure -- street light poles to mount Wi-Fi antennas, for example -- but agree to provide basic wireless Net access at a low rate -- say, no more than $20 per month. To help offset costs, cooperating companies may develop enhanced services, offered at additional charges.

"We're not looking at streaming video across the [wireless] network like the cable TV and telecos are proposing. We're talking about making sure they [low-income families] have high-speed access to the Net at affordable rates to access health information and government service," says Neff. "And if a commercial business wants to sell value, to add resources to that network, they can."

And such municipal approaches may attract wanted attention from the corporate world.

Last week, chip maker Intel, along with several companies, launched a "Digital Communities" initiative -- a program designed to give cities technical resources and discounts to build wireless broadband networks.

"A pipe in and of itself -- whether it's a sewer line, an electrical conduit or water -- is useless unless there's something in it," says Paul Butcher, marketing manager at Intel. "No one company and no one community can do this alone. This is an opportunity for corporations and the community to come together."

Government Involvement

The legal landscape may be changing as well. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., have also drafted a telecommunication bill that would address several issues -- including prohibiting bans on publicly owned telecommunications systems such as MANs.

While it's still unclear how the legal and commercial aspects will resolve themselves, MAN proponents say it's inevitable that there will be some government involvement with developing the new metro-area wireless networks.

"A lot of people say the government should stay out of the broadband arena," says Richardson. "I say, 'wait a minute.' If it wasn't for the ARPANet in the 1970s, we wouldn't even have the Internet. Sometimes the government gets involved and it can act as a spark for something good to happen."