WI-FI RUN BY CITIES: YEA OR NAY?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: January 9, 2006 11:24:09 AM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] WI-FI RUN BY CITIES: YEA OR NAY?
Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com

WI-FI RUN BY CITIES: YEA OR NAY?
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]

At a debate on Friday over municipal broadband networks, Harold Feld  
of the Media Access Project squared off against Tom Lenard of the  
Progress and Freedom Foundation. Not only should city governments  
have the unrestricted ability to create their own wireless broadband  
networks, but they should also consider baking broadband plans into  
disaster recovery scenarios, argued Mr. Feld. "At this point I think  
most of us recognize that the Internet is not a luxury," Feld said.  
"It has become something essential for the conduct of business and  
even the conduct of everyday life." But Lenard said the track record  
of cities' involvement in similar ventures is "not happy." The  
evidence, he said, lies in several studies, one of which he authored,  
that point to money-losing telecommunications firms run by local  
governments. "None have been able to cover their costs without being  
subsidized" by taxpayer money or rate hikes in other public utility  
bills, such as electricity and water, he said. Lenard added that  
large scale wireless broadband networks remain experimental enough to  
warrant caution. "When the private sector makes bets on one  
technology or another, it's disciplined by the shareholders," a  
process that he said tends to occur more efficiently than waiting to  
vote someone out of office. But Feld argued that that's missing the  
point of municipalities' involvement in the first place. Cities are  
right to step in where "there's a valuable social good or economic  
benefit that would be distributed if somebody did this, and there's  
not a rate of return sufficient to attract the private sector" -- for  
instance, in low-income or rural areas. Local governments should view  
the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as a lesson, Feld said.

<http://news.com.com/Wi-Fi+run+by+cities+Yea+or+nay/ 
2100-1028_3-6022185.html?tag=nefd.top>


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