Wireless Tech Chat

Following on the heels of EarthLink’s recent crash and burn, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a HUGE supporter of the proposed citywide network that would have been managed by EarthLink and Google, is looking to see if anyone else can pick up the pieces and get the effort up and running again.

At this point, it looks like the city will issue another RFP and see what shakes out. In addition, the Board of Supervisors, who had expressed misgivings about the proposed network, will certainly feel even more empowered to scrutinize any new potential muni WiFi deals.

It appears that any new potential suitors will have to detail the finanical parameters of the network to the nth degree as well as ensure that it will be paid for with a minimum of local government involvement. That’ll be tough to accomplish, but there still is an opportunity here that vendors may wish to exploit.

[Via New York Times]

Just came across an interesting story from the Wired website about how far the muni WiFi concept, and a number of big-city projects, have fallen in the recent weeks and months.

Most of the decline is being attributed to economic factors–providers didn’t realize how much it would cost to actually provide service to cities such as San Francisco and Chicago, and at the eleventh hour they were scrambling to persuade local governments to sign on (and pay for) the network as anchor tenants. Cities responded by saying that for the most part their budgets were tight and ponying up funds for a service not deemed essential was just not fiscally wise or prudent.

In addition, there really is no concrete financial plan in place to support these networks. Is it advertising and sponsorships? Is it monthly user fees? Would the local government support it as part of their portfolio of services that citizens pay taxes for?

And let’s not forget that many telecoms and cable companies have turned away from lobbying legislatures from not allowing ISPs to offer wireless access to offering their own service packages, and people are going for them in increasing numbers. If a cable TV customer already pays for TV service, how difficult would it be to have internet service (wireless or not) from their cable TV company and just added to their monthly bill? Apparently, it’s not difficult at all.

However, I still say that it is premature to nail the coffin on muni WiFi. A solid business model will eventually be developed, and then we should see deployments, mostly in the smaller- and middle-sized cities, begin to proliferate.

[Via Wired.com]