MyGlobalCity

Municipal Wi-Fi Setbacks - MobilePro Quits Sacramento Project June 10, 2006

Apparently the city of Sacramento wants to set up a public free Wi-Fi network whose cost is completely supported by advertising. The project was only at the RFP (Request For Proposal) stage and MobilePro, who won the bid to work on it, did not think the city’s demand was feasible. MobilePro is still involved in other municipal Wi-Fi projects around the US.

Other municipalities have been questioning whether municipal Wi-Fi (that is, free) is financially feasible, or whether they should just stick to regular (paid) city-wide Wi-Fi networks. MobilePro’s view suggests that since such networks cannot be fully advertising-supported, they obviously have to be financed by either taxes or monthly subscriptions.

Either way, citizens pay. From a city government point-of-view, this is a tough decision. If they pay for the network with taxes and make access free, anyone without a computer is going to be upset. If they charge willing subscribers, the monthly rate is going to have to be competitive and possibly offer something that other Internet providers do not.

But what kind of monthly rate would they charge? How do you determine the potential number of subscribers? What do they do if they don’t meet the minimum? Raise taxes anyway? In which case, why is there a need for muni Wi-Fi, free or paid?

Tags: unwired, municipal Wi-Fi, wireless networks, citywide Wi-Fi, MobilePro, Sacramento