MuniWireless has details on Chicago’s Municipal Wireless Proposal (pdf). “The city won’t invest money or operate the service,” said Chris O’Brien, Chicago’s outgoing chief information officer. “The service cannot be too expensive and must be universally available across the city.”

Chicago’s Wireless Internet Zones (WIZ) is currently available at all the 79 Chicago Public Libraries and other locations.

In May 2006, Mayor Richard Daley had announced a plan to provide affordable broadband Internet service to all Chicagoans and to make computers more widely available to low-income residents. The Mayor also offered $250,000 in grants to help community groups come up with innovative ways to help close the digital divide, and appointed an advisory panel to make further recommendations.

Chicago’s Department of Business and Information Services (BIS) introduced a Draft RFP for comments on May 30, 2006. The City received many meaningful comments and suggestions, which are incorporated in the Final RFP.

The City Council first discussed citywide Wi-Fi last year and then held conversations in several neighborhoods to get community input, O’Brien said. The city concluded it would be best to keep its request for proposals open-ended to give vendors flexibility.

At the time, O’Brien told aldermen that citywide installation would mean about 7,500 small antennas on light poles about every two blocks. He also estimated the cost of networking the city at $18.5 million.

Among the highlights:

• The winning bidder must provide access to the network on a wholesale basis to multiple and competing retail service providers. The city will negotiate wholesale rates and the winning bidder may also sell retail services if it wishes.
• The city wants a public-private partnership whereby they spend no money whatsoever on the network. They will grant access to street light poles, traffic signal poles and other infrastructure on a nonexclusive basis. The winner of the bid must finance, own, design, deploy, maintain, operate and upgrade the network. Although the city owns fiber, it will not provide access to this network.
• The City is not mandating a free solution, but it is interested in creative pricing models promoting availability of the network, including those that would provide access at low or no cost. The City will consider responsible proposals, such as those that support the network through advertising or other revenue generating methods, but only to the extent that these proposals demonstrate a sound investment strategy and create a sustainable network.
• Digital inclusion will involve the Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Public Libraries, the Chicago Park District, social service, nonprofit and other community groups to encouragte low cost computer purchase, training and content development for Chicago’s students and low income and disadvantaged residents.
• Term of contract: 10 years, with subsequent renewal options.

JiWire, estimates the city ranks No. 3 nationally behind San Francisco and New York for Wi-Fi hot spots with more than 500 Wi-Fi hot spots in Starbucks and other places, and more than 50 are free.

The City of Chicago is the largest city in Illinois, and the third-most populous city in the United States, with nearly 2.9 million people. Located along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, it is the seat of Cook County. It covers 234.0 sq miles (606.2 km²) with a population density of 12,604/sqare mile.

Related DailyWireless articles include; Chicago Issues RFP and Cloud for the Windy City.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Monday, September 25th, 2006 at 3:13 am.