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Think Tank Trashes Municipal-Run Wireless
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2005 18:02:16 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com> Reply-To: <dewayne () warpspeed com> Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 20:25:09 -0800 To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Think Tank Trashes Municipal-Run Wireless Think Tank Trashes Municipal-Run Wireless February 3, 2005 <http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3468381> A report out today from the Washington D.C.-based New Millenium Research Council (NMRC), called "Not in the Public Interest‹The Myth of Municipal W-Fi Networks," calls into question the necessity, the anti-competitiveness, and the overall viability of towns, cities, or counties installing wireless broadband and treating it like a public utility. However, Wi-Fi-supporting pundits point out potential issues with not only the arguments made in the report but also the objectivity of the authors, who the pundits brand as "sock puppets of industry." The NRMC was created in 1999 to "develop workable, real-world solutions to the issues and challenges confronting policy makers, primarily in the fields of telecommunications and technology." The group is an "independent project" of Issue Dynamics, Inc. (IDI). In a phone briefing held today with journalists, the authors of various sections of the report gave a summary of their analysis, all of which uniformly question the need for any kind of government-run and funded wireless broadband system. Arguments against include: Anti-competitiveness: Municipal wireless networks will be funded by taxpayers. "When a private sector company fails, it must respond. But government [programs] can be propped up with additional tax dollars," according to Technology Counsel Braden Cox, counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Past failures: "Nearly every municipal network of the last decade has failed badly," says David P. McClure, president and CEO of U.S. Internet Industry Association. When asked directly what municipal networks had failed, speakers mentioned Marietta, Georgia, a utility district in Washington state, and others‹though not all are necessarily wireless. Not addressing the "Digital Divide:" McClure's section of the report states that the phrase is a catchall, and can't be limited just to a lack of free broadband. He also says "econometric data shows no specific link between broadband availability and economic development." And, he says, it won't increase tourism either, since it won't offer more than the Wi-Fi already available in public access hotspots run by private companies. [snip] Archives at: <http://Wireless.Com/Dewayne-Net> Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com> ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- Think Tank Trashes Municipal-Run Wireless David Farber (Feb 05)