Big Telcos Oppose Community Wi-fi Projects
Telecoms lobby against public wireless networks: While we love hearing about community wi-fi projects like those in St. Louis and Taipei, telecommunications companies don’t. Providing this service is what they make money doing, and they’re actively opposing many community wi-fi projects across the country.
A chief complaint: a city can draw on taxpayer dollars, while a private company has to pay interest on borrowed capital. Also, the telecoms complain, public-sector projects are subject to far less regulation. […]
The bill that reached [the Pennsylvania governer’s] desk over the weekend originally included a provision that would bar “political subdivisions” in Pennsylvania from providing telecommunications services for a fee. […]
As the bill evolved, House lawmakers softened the provision to allow the public-sector projects if the traditional local telephone company first declined to provide the service.
In the days before the Senate approved the bill early Friday morning, Philadelphia’s wireless advocates discovered the provision and cried foul. In response, senators changed it to allow services operating before January 1, 2006, to continue, giving Philadelphia some time to get going.
This isn’t going to make many friends among the geek set.
On a related note, wi-fi continues to proliferate here in Sioux Falls. I was driving down Minnesota Ave. the other day and saw that the Taco Johns restaurants are now wi-fi enabled.
What This Links To
The Taipei Wi-Fi Project
Taipei gets world's largest Wi-Fi grid: This makes that St. Louis plan look almost quaint by comparison. It's the love of this kind of connectivity that is driving Taipei city planners to build what they say will be the world's biggest "Wi-Fi" network, making cheap, wireless Internet access available almost everywhere…
St. Louis Unwires Downtown
St. Louis to offer free wireless Internet network to lure business and residents downtown "The city of St. Louis is setting up what could be the nation's largest, free, wireless Internet network in hopes of drawing techno-savvy businesses, tourists and residents to the downtown business district. The city has teamed up…
Comments
I thinks it completely unfair for a government agency to push a private (for profit) company out of a market. Especially in this case. It's bad enough that my cable modem service goes down 2-3 times a month, small market ect... However I would imagine it is far less a priority for a government agency to fix the problem than the private company.
IMHO government agencies should limit their scope of work to providing security, infrastructure regulation and development (roads), and minimal "fall through the cracks" assistance for those who are in need. The rest should be provided through private companies or non-profits.
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