There were over 300 cities and counties in the US with municipal wireless networks up and running, or in the deployment or planning phase, by the end of 2006, says MuniWireless (pdf).
| Type of network | Jul 2005 | Feb 2006 | Apr 2006 | Jun 2006 | Sep 2006 | Dec 2006 |
| Region/citywide | 38 | 56 | 58 | 59 | 68 | 79 |
| City hotzones | 22 | 29 | 32 | 32 | 43 | 49 |
| Muni or public safety use only | 28 | 32 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 36 |
| Planned deployments | 34 | 59 | 69 | 121 | 135 | 149 |
| Total | 122 | 176 | 194 | 247 | 281 | 312 |
In 2006, the number of US cities and counties issuing RFPs and deploying networks has tripled.
XO owns and operates one of the most extensive arrays of metro and inter-city fiber networks in the United States (map), encompassing 9,100 route miles of metro fiber in 37 markets and a nationwide inter-city fiber network spanning 18,000 route miles. Most of XO’s CLEC and IXC competitors, such as AT&T and Verizon, have also begun upgrading their networks using similar optical technology. AboveNet says it’s the #1 provider of metro fiber networks, with more than 1,300 optically-enabled buildings in 14 U.S. markets.
XO (above), plans to sell its national wired network for $700 million and become a leading provider of fixed broadband wireless. XO is one of the largest holders of fixed wireless licenses in the 28 GHz-31 GHz spectrum covering more than 70 U.S. major metropolitan markets. XO owns “the lion’s share” of A-band 28 GHz spectrum in the United States, as well as some B-band spectrum.
First Avenue Networks bought out the radio spectrum assets of bankrupt of Advanced Radio Telecom (at 39GHz) and Teligent (at 24 GHz) and now has 24/39 GHz licenses throughout the United States with deep coverage in 77 metropolitan areas.
Level 3 (above) owns and maintains over 39,500 intercity route miles.
