SIP aims to build a private wireless network for a school district with new 5G business model

The internet has become necessary infrastructure during the pandemic, but ubiquitous 5G service has been slow to fully develop in the US. Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) said it will invest $100 million to both acquire wireless infrastructure company Dense Air and use its small cell technology to build a "borderless classroom." SIP, which was spun out of Google-parent Alphabet, intends to work with an as-yet unnamed city to build a private wireless network for a school district so students can connect to the same network whether they're in the classroom, on the school bus or at home, according to SIP co-CEO Jonathan Winer. Given the capital-intensive process of building better, faster internet networks, new companies are looking to rethink the business model for internet access. Building ultra-fast 5G networks in cities involves deploying equipment known as small cells to densify wireless networks, as opposed to the large towers that covered wide swaths of areas in earlier wireless evolutions. Instead of companies each deploying their own equipment, which can take thousands of cells, SIP envisions changing that model, where they or municipalities share the Dense Air small cells to extend networks to underserved areas. Winer said Dense Air's first US project will be a pilot with a municipality willing to be a "co-creator" and work with the company as it navigates this new model.