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Part two: Cities peg Wi-Fi as next must-have amenity

"Just as parks have benches and trees, community wireless is a community benefit," according to a nonprofit Wi-Fi provider in New York City. "Wi-Fi has become an amenity that's almost a necessity for the business traveler," says one ASU professor. Another professor at the W. P. Carey School of Business believes broadband Internet access is analogous to electricity. Part Two of a series on the impact of municipal broadband access explores these and other viewpoints prompting U.S. cities to begin scrambling to provide public wireless Internet access. Experts in the Wi-Fi industry predict that in the next few years, hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent Wi-Fi projects as the U.S. attempts to catch up with 18 nations -- including Hong Kong, South Korea, Israel, Taiwan and the Netherlands -- that rank higher in overall household penetration of broadband Internet access.

2006-02-15

When Glenn Fleishman, editor of Wi-Fi Networking News, ventured predictions for 2006, he forecast that hundreds of Requests For Proposals will appear and "hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent" on public wireless Internet access for U.S. towns and cities. Among those watching the Wi-Fi marketplace, Fleishman's augury could easily inspire the words, "It's about time." According to Telecompaper, a publisher and research firm focused on telecommunications and Internet news, the United States now ranks 19^th in overall household penetration of broadband. Hong Kong, South Korea, Israel, Taiwan and the Netherlands lead the pack. Several European nations fall in line next, and trailing the U.S. is Slovenia. However, in light of recent growth statistics, researchers at Telecompaper say Slovenia could overtake the U.S. position in 2007. In the January/February 2006 issue of Washington Monthly, author Robert McChesney joined John Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, to write: "Countries that achieve universal broadband are going to hold significant advantages over those who don't. And so far, the United States is poised to be a follower — not a leader — in the broadband economy." Similar competitive anxiety lurks behind many municipal broadband initiatives in the U.S. today. Is public broadband access necessary to keep cities attractive to businesses and tourists? Some believe it is. Others back public Wi-Fi for more altruistic reasons. Engines of enterprise   Michael Goul, professor of information technology at the W. P. Carey School of Business, shares a view expressed by McChesney and Podesta: Broadband Internet access is analogous to electricity. Like them, Goul recalls that government officials of the last century grappled with the competitive advantages urban areas gained when private power companies cherry-picked customers from high-density cities but left rural areas in the dark. According to Goul, policymakers of the early 1900s faced the questions, "Do you trust corporate providers to make sure that electricity gets to every home in America? Or is there a role for the public sector in guaranteeing that electricity is there for your citizenry?" In 1935, President Roosevelt issued an executive order creating a federal agency designed primarily to fund rural electric cooperatives. "Nothing like that is happening with Wi-Fi yet," Goul says. "Our country is pretty much entrusting business to pull this off, and some municipalities feel that they just have to do it themselves. Getting down to business Wi-Fi is the Internet protocol built around the 802.11 family of standards published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). Currently, it is the technology of choice for public-access programs because most laptops now come equipped to navigate the net using Wi-Fi. "Citizen demand drives municipal interest in Wi-Fi," says Gerald Zhiyong Lan, professor of public administration in ASU's School of Public Affairs. "Wi-Fi has become an amenity that's almost a necessity for the business traveler." For tourists, too, adds Rob Edwards, director of Development for the Downtown Phoenix Partnership and point-man for the group that is trying to create a Wi-Fi cloud to service the 90 blocks that make up this Arizona city's central downtown. They don't want to have to ask business travelers to rely on a major chain of coffee houses to gain access, Edwards explains. Lan notes that competitiveness is part of the American spirit, and "many American municipalities compete with one another." Edwards admits there's a lot of "me-too" motivation behind the business-oriented push for public Wi-Fi in Phoenix. "So many other cities have done it that without it, you're at a disadvantage," he says, adding that he's thinking about "other convention destinations like San Diego and Orlando." But, the push for Wi-Fi is more than just a way to woo tourists and conventioneers. According to Edwards, having public Wi-Fi helps a city "draw the best and brightest people." Economist Tracy Clark, who is associate director for the Bank One Economic Outlook Center, notes that many municipal leaders believe Wi-Fi ups a city's attractiveness to young professionals, and "that crowd tends to work for the kinds of businesses that economic development people think are cool." Clark will joke that the kind of businesses he's referencing are similar to "those that went bust with the dotcom crash," but he sees true economic value in high-tech, knowledge-based workers and businesses. "They're creating relatively high-paying jobs with low environmental impact, and you don't have to provide them with a huge amount of space," he says. "As desirable as Intel is, you can't shoehorn them into an industrial park or downtown office space. Intel needs a huge campus, whereas with smaller, knowledge-based businesses, you can stick them anywhere." Public Wi-Fi also serves as a tool to develop and retain retail business, Clark adds. "If you're a coffee shop and the city offers Wi-Fi, you don't have to. And, if people know they can get Wi-Fi in downtown, they're more likely to go there." Wi-Fi to the people Business people aren't the only ones pushing public-access Wi-Fi. So are altruists. "Information is essential to life as water is essential to life," says public-administration expert Lan. "Any way to improve public access to information at low or no cost is step forward in advancing a democratic civil society. In this sense, it is a public good." Robert St. Louis, professor of information technology at the W. P. Carey School of Business, adds that Wi-Fi is just one step in the right direction. "It's part of the equation," he says. "Free or low-cost connectivity plus a low-cost computer plus freeware equals the end of the digital divide." St. Louis recalls watching a teacher in a financially struggling city school "beg" and scramble for computer equipment to use in the classroom. "Having computers in kids' hands, and having those kids connected, would allow this teacher to do so many things he can't do now," St. Louis says. It is this kind of philanthropy that fuels NYCwireless, the non-profit organization that has been promoting and establishing public-access Wi-Fi hotspots throughout Manhattan since 2001. "Just as parks have benches and trees, community wireless is a community benefit," says Dana Spiegel, executive Director of NYCwireless. Spiegel explains that his group started deploying community wireless in parks and open spaces as a good-neighbor effort, but the group has evolved to also offer access to low-income households that can ill afford the monthly broadband fee. "To raise the family up in terms of lifestyle and resources, they need Internet access," he says. Standards deviations and other risks Despite the business and community benefits of public wireless Internet access, these initiatives aren't without their risks. Most municipal wireless Internet programs are focused around the technology known as Wi-Fi. In fact, when researchers at the University of Georgia investigated municipal wireless initiatives in 2004, they found only one city that wasn't using the 802.11 standards. But, standards change. Some industry watchers cite obsolescence as a risk cities face with municipal Wi-Fi deployments. Specifically, WiMax, the new kid on the wireless Internet block, has some wondering, "Will WiMax bump Wi-Fi out of municipal coverage plans?" And just how big a risk is obsolescence, anyway? In Tempe, Ariz., city managers are relying on a private company, MobilePro, to deploy and maintain a wireless network that will be available to the city departments for free and to citizens for reduced subscription fees. "About the time you get this thing built out, WiMax is going to come along," says Bank One's Clark. "What leverage does Tempe have to go to their provider and say, 'Well, now you have to switch to WiMax.'" NYCwireless chief Spiegel doesn't view obsolescence as a significant risk, just a circumstance to be factored into the deployment. Spiegel points to the strategy Philadelphia will follow with Earthlink at the helm of that city's project. "They have a model for how often network equipment will have to be replaced and an estimation of the lifespan of the technology," he explains. "Wi-Fi is going to be around for the next decade, and over the next five years, it will transform quite a bit. You build that into your plan." That could be a costly chore for cities, notes Lan, who explains that many of the financial burdens city planners face with Wi-Fi projects hinge on how the program gets deployed. "If cities have joint partnerships with private-sector entities, they can minimize risks," he maintains, adding that businesses are in better position to recover unexpected costs because they can raise rates "without generating public discourse." And, what about the cities that don't jump on the Wi-Fi bandwagon? Is there a risk of not offering municipal Wi-Fi? "At this point, not so much," says Clark, who explains that cities are just getting started "figuring out what infrastructure to use, what business model to use, all that stuff." However, Clark adds, "If this becomes something that people expect, like water, sewer and lights, then without it, you could be considered some backwater hick town that no one wants to visit." With the proliferation of municipal Wi-Fi, that appears to be a high risk, indeed. "The transition is taking place," says Goul. "If you're not willing to go with the flow, you may wind up pretty isolated."

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