Cash pouring into citywide wi-fi

More than $3bn will be spent during the next four years to build and operate public wireless networks for US municipalities, according to a new research report by MuniWireless.com.

Interest among US cities and counties to deploy their own public wireless networks is exceeding earlier expectations, said Esme Vos, founder of MuniWireless.com, which tracks the citywide wi-fi market.

Last year, MuniWireless.com predicted cities and counties would spend about $177m in 2006 to build wireless networks. But the actual figure is much higher - about $235m will be spent in 2006 on these networks, according to the new report.

Citywide wi-fi networks, which are built and managed by a city alone or in partnership with a private company, have come into vogue in the past couple of years. Large cities such as New Orleans, Philadelphia and San Francisco have led the charge, despite strong political and industry opposition. With these new networks, they've promised to provide affordable or free broadband access to residents.

Large counties and regional municipal coalitions are also looking into building wi-fi networks, Vos said. For instance, the three-county, 40-city Smart Valley consortium in California's Silicon Valley last month named a three-company team of vendors to build its network.

Vos said in a statement: "We are now long past the stage where municipal wireless was something primarily for small communities that had been bypassed by incumbent service providers. Cities and counties throughout the country - and around the world - have begun to get it: public wireless networks are an essential part of local quality-of-life and public-policy strategies."

While many cities are exploring proposals for building citywide wi-fi networks, and several others have already selected vendors to build their networks, only a handful of major deployments are actually up and running today. As a result, the growth of the municipal wi-fi market is likely to depend on whether the networks currently being built perform as expected and provide the intended benefits local government officials hope to achieve.

Marguerite Reardon writes for CNET News.com