Details are sketchy, but New York City may allow six telecom firms to pay up to $25 million per year to install wireless transmitters on 18,000 lamp posts: The article is full of sturm und drang about health effects, but the real story is that the city is trying to counter its dead zones without tearing up the streets. It's unclear precisely what kind of transmitters these will be, but you can bet your boppy that the goal will be wireless backhaul for the majority of the points using mesh or simple point-to-point. This endeavor could bring massively improved voice, 2.5G/3G cell data, and Wi-Fi into a city without ripping up all the roads once again or putting giant cell antennas on every last building.
The companies include well-known and never-heard-of-'em: the New York Post says they are two cellular providers, Nextel and T-Mobile, three non-cellular companies, ClearLinx Network Corp., Crown Castle Solutions, and Dianet Communications. The sixth, IDT Business Services, will provide telephone service via the Internet. [link via GigaOm]