Glen Fleishman/eWeek: NMRC, creator of Myth of Muni Wi-Fi, a lobbying front for Telcos

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Reply-To: <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 02:56:33 -0800
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Glen Fleishman/eWeek: NMRC, creator of Myth of Muni
Wi-Fi, a lobbying front for Telcos



[Note:  This item comes from reader Robert Berger.  I posted an article
on this report yesterday from 'Wi-Fi Planet'.  This item is a follow up
to that.  The battle on muniwireless has now been engaged by the
incumbents.  Look for more 'dirty bombs' to be lobed like this one.
While I'm at it, I'd like to point you to Glen Fleishman's excellent
weblog on all things wireless, 'Wi-Fi Networking News' at
<http://wifinetnews.com/>  DLH]

> From: "Robert J. Berger" <rberger () ibd com>
> Date: February 3, 2005 10:00:03 PM PST
> To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>, Dave Farber
> <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Glen Fleishman/eWeek: NMRC, creator of  Myth of Muni Wi-Fi, a
> lobbying front for Telcos
>
> eWeek Pulls Socket Puppet from Lobbying Firms¹ Hand
>
> By Glenn Fleishman February 3, 2005 08:13 PM
> http://wifinetnews.com/archives/004780.html
>
> eWeek connects NMRC to Issue Dynamics, a telecom lobbying
> firm(http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1759948,00.asp): Wayne
> Rash reports at the end of a story about Philadelphia¹s upcoming
> municipal wireless announcement the following blockbuster about
> the ties between the New Millennium Research Council, co-issuers
> of today¹s report ³Not In The Public Interest - The Myth of
> Municipal Wi-Fi Networks.²
> (http://newmillenniumresearch.org/archive/wifireport2305.pdf)
> (I¹ve written extensively about this report and its precursors
> over the last few days.
> http://wifinetnews.com/archives/004779.html)
>
> Rash writes: While preparing this story, eWEEK.com learned that
> the NMRC is actually owned and sponsored by Washington lobbying
> firm Issue Dynamics Inc., whose clients include most of the
> major telecommunications companies in the United States. Those
> companies have been active in opposing municipal wireless and
> broadband efforts. The company claimed that its reports were
> nevertheless completely independent.
>
> I¹ve been saying these folks were sock puppets for days and
> criticizing the lack of transparency about funding among several
> organizations involved in creating this report, while still
> listening to the message. (I had some positive things to say
> about parts of the report earlier today.) This should be a major
> embarrassment to Issue Dynamics¹s clients who are now starkly
> revealed as the puppeteers.
>
> More prosaically, Rash describes the public/private partnership
> that Philadelphia expects to use, which is in contrast to the
> kinds of entirely municipal efforts decried in the NMRC¹s
> report. Tropos may have the lead as it was involved in a
> four-square-mile test. And note throughout the article that
> Philly¹s CIO Dianah Neff is talking about broadband wireless,
> not ³Wi-Fi,² as the report continually conflates.
>
> The ever-insightful Carol Ellison also weighed in
> (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1759677,00.asp) about the
> NMRC report. She summarizes the phone conference about the
> release of the report today as, ³The rollout of municipally held
> Wi-Fi networks will likely have a detrimental effect on city
> budgets and on competition.² Ellison castigates the press event
> and the report, noting, ³But while the session promised to fill
> the gap on the dearth of in-depth analysis on the subject, it
> and the report that accompanied it offered many more sweeping
> statements about failed projects than information about why they
> failed.²
>
> Ellison shreds the NMRC for its undisclosed connection to Issue
> Dynamics: ³The NMRC made a point to say that none of the
> researchers who participated received any money from NMRC. But
> in case you¹re wondering who¹s paying the bills at IDI, take a
> look at its client list. If you don¹t want to read the whole
> huge thing, let me summarize those of interest in this issue:
> Ameritech, Bell South, Comcast, Pacific Bell, Qwest, SBC
> Communications, Sprint, U.S. West, Verizon and Verizon
> Wireless.²
>
> It¹s fair to say that the disclosure of the NMRC¹s parent firm
> may alter the entire landscape of debate on municipal wireless.

Archives at: <http://Wireless.Com/Dewayne-Net>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>


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