The Federal Trade Commission releases a report for policymakers on municipal Wi-Fi: The FTC's staff produced this report to sort through issues of competition, fair trade, utility, and cost. Part I runs through technology and implementations, including Wi-Fi and WiMax, 3G, satellite, and Broadband over Powerline (BPL). Part II looks at operating models, including non-profit, cooperative (private pooled efforts with little muni involvement), outsourcing (quasi-franchise with no municipal commitments), public/private (municipality participates in project, including acting as an anchor tenant), municipally owned, and government loan-grant. Part III summarizes proponents views and Part IV the opposing side. Part V goes through legislation passed or in progress. Part VI presents best practice principles.
The decision tree on page 52 of the PDF is stacked against municipal involvement of any kind, even though the report seems generally more neutral with regard to particular operating models noted in Part II. The Balhoff & Rowe report that opposes municipal wireless is quoted extensively (I count 17 references), while there are no reports like the Free Press's from proponents that receive any real citation--but Tropos marketing materials are widely cited. Further, the New Millennium Research Council's astroturf report of Feb. 2005 is quoted 11 times. Jim Baller of Baller Herbst Law Group is quoted 13 times.
Singapore will receive two years of 512 Kbps Wi-Fi starting in 2007: The Wireless@SG broadband service should be deployed nationwide by Sept. 2007, and the government has promoted the notion of having two years of basic service as a way to encourage usage. Under the Singapore Infocomm Development Authority (IDA)'s plan, three firms will build out service nationally, spending $100m with IDA helping with up to $30m of that cost. Public hotspots will grow from 900 to 5,000 under this program, and hotzones will spread in high-traffic areas. The free tier of service is available to residents and visitors, and includes unlimited usage. Premium service levels will include content, video conference, VoIP, IPTV, gaming, and other services.
Winston-Salem signs up Azulstar/Cisco/IBM consortium: These three companies have a fourth partner, Seakay, a non-profit, in their winning bid for Wireless Silicon Valley and a proposal for Sacramento. In Winston-Salem, the consortium will spin out Wi-Fi to 225,000 residents, eventually encompassing the entirety of Forsyth County. There will be both free and premium services; premium levels of service will offer VoIP and video.