Verizon, stung with bad publicity over a bill to block Philadelphia’s WiFi “city cloud”, has marshalled their well oiled PR machine with a counter-attack:
Contrary to misleading claims by competitors, a recent telecommunications bill [House Bill 30] passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly represents the most aggressive, comprehensive broadband network deployment plan in the United States, providing significant benefits for the state s consumers, as well as its educational and business communities.In a recent news release, the Pennsylvania Carriers Coalition claimed that telecom competition is threatened here and that Pennsylvania lags behind other states in broadband services. [The Coalition supports a policy to bring competition to Verizon for local phone services]
The coalition s claims are totally baseless, said James V. O Rourke, president and CEO of Verizon Pennsylvania. Pennsylvanians benefit from vibrant, widespread telecommunications competition among incumbent local phone companies like Verizon, competing landline companies, wireless providers, cable companies and Internet-based phone companies. That competition is here, it s irreversible and it s growing.
…Verizon Pennsylvania s network is among the most advanced in the nation, ranking second overall for network modernization and broadband capability, according to a 2003 NERA Economic Consulting study, and third in fiber-optic cable deployment, according to 2003 Federal Communications Commission reports.
…Verizon and the state s other local telephone companies are making broadband services available to customers who want them, said O Rourke. House Bill 30 will enable us to finish the job, with its requirement of 100-percent broadband deployment by 2015 a mandate no other state currently requires.
The bill provides over $40 million in services and discounts directly to schools to make broadband available to all students in the commonwealth. Annually, up to $5 million will be available to educate communities about broadband and to aggregate demand for such service. Overall, up to $100 million in new benefits will flow to Pennsylvania s communities.
The bill establishes several economic development programs that will further facilitate broadband deployment throughout the state.
House Bill 30 provides the right incentives and mechanisms to foster telecom competition, accelerate broadband deployment to meet customers needs and stimulate economic development, said O Rourke. We will continue to invest in broadband as aggressively as we can to help Pennsylvania become a national leader in technology deployment and telecom policy.
… This bill recognizes the ongoing changes in our industry and provides for fair and open competition for all broadband providers, said O Rourke. House Bill 30 brings the recently expired Chapter 30 statute in line with the competitive marketplace and creates a framework that encourages investment, innovation and risk-taking by the state s telecommunication providers.
The bill on Gov. Ed Rendell’s desk could stop Philadelphia’s “city cloud” dead. The bill began 19 months ago as a proposal drafted by lobbyists for telecommunications companies. Rendell, a former Philadelphia mayor, has until Tuesday to veto the bill.
Earlier this year, BellSouth and Qwest attempted to push for severe restrictions on municipal broadband service in Louisiana and Utah. Those bills ended in compromise, in some cases with existing plans being allowed to continue but new plans limited.
The legislative provision in Pennsylvania, reports the Wall Street Journal, was originally prompted by the fiber deployment of a small town called Kutztown. But people involved in the legislative process say the provision took on added importance for legislators and the state’s big phone companies after Philadelphia announced its Wi-Fi plans.
Telecommunications companies are worried that hundreds of other municipalities will provide cheap, municipally provided Internet, both as an alternative for public service users [who now use cellular phones], as well as providing “digital divide” services as a social leveler.
“We looked at it as a way to be a city, literally, of the 21st century,” said Barbara Grant, a spokeswoman for Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street. “We wanted to bridge the digital divide for residents who wouldn’t have access to the Internet, particularly schoolchildren.” A variety of high-speed access providers for its Wi-Fi offerings would be available, including MCI, Sprint Corp. and Level 3 Communications.
Muniwireless has a follow up. Broadband Reports has all the news. Here’s a critical deconstruction of the bill.
DailyWireless has more on Philly’s Fight, Verizon Blocking Philly Cloud?, the Philadelphia Cloud, Low Income Housing Connection, Digital Divide Solutions, SBC Fiber Plans, Taipei Unwired, Unwired Countries, and the DailyWireless City Cloud Report
Other U.S. cities that are building city-wide clouds include Athens, GA, Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Boston, Bellevue & Kirkland, Cerritos, Charleston, South Carolina, Durham/Raleigh, North Carolina, FreeBeeAtlanta, OneCleveland, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Datona Beach, Hermosa Beach, Indianapolis, Louisville, Long Beach, Kennewick, WA, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, Washington, Hermiston, OR, Medford, OR, Louisville Kentucky, Washington DC and others. WiFi Planet’s Hotspot Hits keeps tabs.
Other large regional clouds include:
- A nearby 40 square mile hotzone around Kennewick uses WiFi on Bonneville Fiber. Benton PUD is working with several ISPs to offer Wi-Fi. Chameleon Technology developed the $300,000 software management system for Benton PUD’s Wi-Fi network. Benton and Franklin PUDs will jointly market their fiber optics networks under a partnership called Broadstream.
- Tropos is a leading “city cloud” vendor. Recently, Chaska, Minn., a city of about 18,000, created a “city cloud” service. The network utilizes 186 Tropos 5110 Wi-Fi cells and an outdoor-optimized wireless mesh router. So far, about 2,000 people subscribe to the wireless service which costs subscribers $15.99 per month. Chaska s $650,000 investment should be paid off in just over two years. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City will provide a 400-square-mile Wi-Fi mesh network for the city’s public safety communications. Tropos will provide the city with about 600 fixed wireless base stations mounted on light poles throughout the city and about 700-750 of Tropos’ new 4210 mobile Wi-Fi cells installed in police and fire vehicles.
- Ottawa Wireless has a wireless zone that’s 70 city blocks, with plans to cover the rest of the city by mid-2004. They use Proxim s recently introduced ORiNOCO AP-4000 tri-band access point and Proxim’s Tsunami MP.11a for backhaul.
- Louisville Kentucky has a metro-area network powered by Navini’s Ripwave system. Phase 1 will cover approximately 75 square miles using five towers for $30/month mobilized broadband. Phase 2, in 2004, is expected to cover about 85% of the city. US Wireless Online, which is building the network, says each cell antenna site cost about $45,000 to set up and it can put together a network of 10 cell sites to serve 30,000 customers for less than $500,000. Jefferson County covers 375 square miles.
- Houston County, in Georgia, will blanket the region’s 376 square miles in WiMax. Initially, WiMax service will be offered to businesses, later to residential customers.
- Oregon’s VeriLAN recently switched on the first commercial 802.16a-like service feeding their Portland Vivato antenna and other connections beyond 465 square mile Multnomah County.
- Nextel’s Flarion test serves the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill region in 823 square mile Wake County with a population of 1,036,703.
- Towerstream’s Broadband Wireless in LA, Seattle Unwired by Speakeasy, SF and LA Clouds, and Clearwire’s Jacksonville FL Cloud are among the newer “city cloud” announcements.
Perhaps the largest regional wireless network in the United States is a Navini non-line-of-sight network (above), which covers a vast expanse of South Texas, about 5,000 square miles. Clients get “wireless DSL” using indoor USB clients and 500kbps-1Mbps speed. No truck roll. Navini has a PC card, too.
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