Commentary--Recently, parties lacking experience and facts have suggested that municipalities should not promote or fund broadband wireless networks. Their arguments ignore a growing number of successful municipal deployments and rely on incorrect assertions. These flawed arguments put the public at risk of making incorrect policy decisions and having to live with the consequences. Policies that limit the rapid deployment of broadband wireless networks mean limiting the real benefits of these networks to public safety, economic growth and the education and enrichment of our citizens. They mean that the United States will forgoe its best option for improving its dismal world ranking in terms of per-capita availability of broadband.
Broadband wireless networks are the fastest, lowest cost and simplest way to increase broadband availability. Municipal broadband wireless networks do not require digging up streets, complex RF engineering or expensive subscriber devices. Wireless Philadelphia, based on similar, albeit smaller systems, conservatively estimates a citywide mesh network will cost $60,000 per square mile to construct. With a land area of 135 square miles, this translates into $8.1 million to install the mesh network. Add a comfortable margin (based on Tropos experience) for security systems, billing systems, network management systems, routers to connect to the Internet and the like and, all in, the cost of deploying a broadband wireless network in Philadelphia would be about $11 million.
Municipal broadband wireless networks today provide many benefits to cities and their citizens. For instance, chaska.net, a citywide Wi-Fi network in Chaska, Minnesota, projects that revenues from their 2,000+ subscribers will fund the network's operating costs, pay the interest and repay the principal--without using taxpayer funds. The 16-square mile network was financed (less than $600,000) with four-year equipment certificates. And 25 percent of Chaska’s homes have signed on for broadband Internet access speeds (>1Mbps, symmetrical) at dial-up prices ($16/month).
Other cities have turned to broadband wireless to support public safety and other operations. In San Mateo, California, police officers now spend 8,000 more hours a year on their beats, because a municipal broadband wireless network gives them mobile access to databases and in-field reporting. In Corpus Christi, Texas, a broadband wireless network is automating utility meter reading, reading 73 water meters per second, compared to minutes per meter using manual processes. New Orleans installed a broadband wireless network to support public safety video surveillance. The system was quickly and easily installed, and reduced the murder rate by 57 percent in six months and auto theft by 25 percent in the covered areas.
While cities are improving public services with broadband wireless networks, many project that their networks will provide more bandwidth than city workers will consume. Mindful of tight budgets, they intend to sell this excess bandwidth to help pay for the initial installation and operating costs. This is good fiscal prudence.
Often municipalities foot a fraction of the cost of installation and operation in other ways. Business models include public-private partnerships such as allowing service providers to use city rights of way tenant in exchange for low-cost accounts for use by city workers. Other possible models allow service providers to lease capacity on municipally owned wireless networks, split installation costs with private entities in exchange for service and revenue sharing, or provide capital to for-profit and non-profit entities in exchange for an ownership stake. Different models are appropriate for different local goals and circumstances.
Fears that new technology will quickly obsolete municipal wireless networks are vastly overblown. To date, over 100 million Wi-Fi client devices have been shipped. Wi-Fi is connecting an increasing assortment of devices, not just laptops and PDAs but also security cameras, traffic management systems, meter readers, location sensors, cell phones and much more. And Wi-Fi will get even faster and more capable over time. Further, new technologies such as WiMAX are easily integrated into broadband wireless networks.
In conclusion, the parties debating this issue must consider the facts outlined above. With these facts, they must also acknowledge that broadband wireless networks today provide numerous benefits to many constituencies. With the facts in hand, let’s develop policies at the state and federal level that encourage the development of broadband wireless networks, not ones that stifle their creation. The winners will be the citizens, no matter who deploys a broadband wireless network--municipality or service provider.
biography
Ron Sege is CEO of Tropos Networks, which sells equipment to carriers, service providers and municipalities deploying metro-scale Wi-Fi.
