Wi-Fi run by Cities: Yea or nay?

[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
At a debate on Friday over municipal broadband networks, Harold Feld of the Media Access Project squared off against Tom Lenard of the Progress and Freedom Foundation. Not only should city governments have the unrestricted ability to create their own wireless broadband networks, but they should also consider baking broadband plans into disaster recovery scenarios, argued Mr. Feld. "At this point I think most of us recognize that the Internet is not a luxury," Feld said. "It has become something essential for the conduct of business and even the conduct of everyday life." But Lenard said the track record of cities' involvement in similar ventures is "not happy." The evidence, he said, lies in several studies, one of which he authored, that point to money-losing telecommunications firms run by local governments. "None have been able to cover their costs without being subsidized" by taxpayer money or rate hikes in other public utility bills, such as electricity and water, he said. Lenard added that large scale wireless broadband networks remain experimental enough to warrant caution. "When the private sector makes bets on one technology or another, it's disciplined by the shareholders," a process that he said tends to occur more efficiently than waiting to vote someone out of office. But Feld argued that that's missing the point of municipalities' involvement in the first place. Cities are right to step in where "there's a valuable social good or economic benefit that would be distributed if somebody did this, and there's not a rate of return sufficient to attract the private sector" -- for instance, in low-income or rural areas. Local governments should view the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as a lesson, Feld said.
http://news.com.com/Wi-Fi+run+by+cities+Yea+or+nay/2100-1028_3-6022185.html?tag=nefd.top

See also:
* Let There Be Wi-Fi
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0601.podesta.html