The City of Grand Rapids (pop: 197,800), announced today that it has selected Clearwire, a provider of Mobile WiMAX, to construct a privately owned and operated wireless broadband network for mobile, portable, and nomadic data service throughout the City’s 45 square miles (pdf).

This is the first time that Clearwire has partnered with a municipality. Licensed WiMAX services, offered by Clearwire in some 31 markets, utilize licensed frequencies. They will shortly be joined by Sprint’s Mobile WiMAX service in dozens of major markets.

WiMAX, and particulary its mobile follow-on, 802.16e, is not free — it requires special 2.5 GHz PC cards and USB clients — but the payoff is cellular range combined with WiFi speeds and costs.

Clearwire’s network in Grand Rapids is also expected to include WiMAX/WiFi hybrid hot spots that involve the placement of numerous WiFi hotspots in strategic locations throughout the City.

George K. Heartwell, Grand Rapids’ Mayor stated:

“We are pleased and proud that Grand Rapids and Clearwire are working together to bring high-speed wireless Internet services to our community. Clearwire provides its services in other cities, but, Grand Rapids is the first city to enter into this type of relationship with the company.”

Harry P. Dolan, Grand Rapids’ Police Chief stated:

Public Safety is the primary reason that the City sought wireless broadband service. Clearwire intends to offer coverage throughout the City. We are confident that Clearwire service will accommodate the City’s public safety requirements including real-time video streaming and photo transfer for police and fire vehicles going up to 70 miles per hour.

Unlike Wi-Fi, which requires about 20-40 transmitters per square mile, Clearwire’s WiMAX antennas should cover all 45 square miles of the city with 10 to 15 towers, said Scott Buhrer, the city’s chief financial officer.

According to the Washington Post, Taiwan’s Wi-Fi network (WiFly) — the world’s largest municipal WiFi network - uses some 4,000 access points and cost about $31 million US dollars to build. A 3G cellular network, by contrast, would cost US$300 million to $500 million for the same level of coverage, says Gartner telecom analyst Nick Ingelbrecht. Large data transfers can be expensive.

A WiMAX network, say industry backers, combines cellular range with WiFi speed. That should make it cheaper (and faster) than most WiFi or cellular solutions for metropolitan coverage.

The City of Grand Rapids expects that deployment of the robust Clearwire WIMAX network will provide an economic development tool to attract and retain business, reduce the digital divide, improve City service delivery and reduce the cost of government, facilitate wireless technology use for citizens and visitors, and create a seamless wireless infrastructure to attract and retain young professionals; all without a burden on taxpayers.

Clearwire has agreed to reimburse City some $100,000 it spent on testing and will pay established asset lease fees. A cost-neutral arrangement will trade the cost of delivering public safety and municipal services with infrastructure and other fees.

Clearwire will provide discounted service of $9.95 per month to up to 5% of the total household count in Grand Rapids for qualifying low-income citizens to be administered by a non-profit agency yet to be determined. To better serve visitors and occasional users, free Wi-Fi hot spots will be provided throughout the City for visitors and occasional users. Clearwire’s Residential Plans typically run from $30-$40/month for 700K-1.5 Mbps.

The Request for Proposals was issued in January 2006, to provide mobile, portable and nomadic data service throughout the City’s 45 square miles. Forty-seven companies participated in the City’s pre-bid conference, twenty-one companies submitted a Letter of Intent to Bid on the project, and nine companies submitted wireless broadband proposals by the April 25 deadline.

Last month the heavily funded Kirkland company rolled out commercial WiMAX service in Seattle with a laser light show at the Space Needle. Seattle is Clearwire’s largest market to date.

Seattle’s Clearwire service, like their service offerings in some 30-odd metropolitan areas, is a straight-ahead commercial venture, without a city partnership.

Of course no “WiMAX operator” can provide actual Mobile WiMAX standard gear yet. But, with the help of Motorola and Intel, Clearwire expects to move their broadband wireless system to 802.16e (Mobile WiMAX) beginning next year.

The Grand Rapids partnership could signal the start of a new approach by Clearwire. Mobile WiMAX, with costs said to be one tenth that of cellular broadband, may be particularly welcomed by public service agencies like Police and Fire that have a need for mobile high-speed data with the range and reliability of a licensed frequency.

The dedicated 4.9 GHz wireless band for public safety is being used in the Boston-area community of Brookline, Mass. The FCC issued two masks (power profiles) for the 4.9 GHz band, one for low-power applications similar to public WiFi hotspots, and one for high-power systems such as the one being installed in Brookline.

The higher-power version more closely matches the range of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi — 1000 feet or so. Mobile WiMAX, however, typically has a range of 1-3 miles on the licensed 2.5 GHz band. Cellular data — either EVDO or HSDPA — might cost twice as much as Mobile WiMAX service and deliver half the speed.

Your mileage may vary.

The best solution for broadband wireless (Wi-Fi, WiMAX, Cellular, 4.9 GHz or Moon Bounce), may differ from city to city. It depends on the user applications, terrain and competition say industry pros.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Wednesday, December 6th, 2006 at 7:32 pm.