[IP] WI-FI RUN BY CITIES: YEA OR NAY?
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From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: January 9, 2006 11:24:09 AM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] WI-FI RUN BY CITIES: YEA OR NAY?
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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