Update: AT&T-MetroFi win Riverside muni Wi-Fi bid
Riverside, California has chosen AT&T and MetroFi to deploy the city’s municipal wireless broadband network. The contract negotiated by the city with the AT&T-MetroFi consortium comes before the city council next week for approval, according to the Inland News.Riverside, California has chosen AT&T and MetroFi to deploy the city’s municipal wireless broadband network. The contract negotiated by the city with the AT&T-MetroFi consortium comes before the city council next week for approval, according to the Inland News.
If approved, Riverside joins Springfield, Illinois as the second win for AT&T in the municipal Wi-Fi arena. The estimated cost of building the network is $9 million. The Inland News article indicates that the network will be open to other wireless service providers on a wholesale basis and that it will be used by the city for municipal purposes:
AT&T expects to make money on the deal by selling advertising space on the entry Web page for the free wireless system, by offering the faster paid service, and by letting other companies piggyback on its wireless system for a fee. AT&T also plans to sell the city a variety of services — new phone and cell phone service, very high-speed, non-wireless Internet access and wireless Internet access for everything from meter-reading equipment to computers in police cars.
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Anyone know if AT&T owns most of the pole attachment rights in Riverside, as it does in Springfield?
[...] Municipal wireless networks are a polarizing technology. In any given Google search you can find some championing the benefits of city-wide networks, while others just as loudly decree the business model as shoddy. That doesn’t seem to stop cities from wanting the networks — today Boston turned on a section of its downtown WiFi network, built and run by SkyPilot Networks and Galaxy Internet. Foster City also launched a network from MetroFi today. Tomorrow the Riverside city council will consider the muniFi bid from AT&T and MetroFi. [...]
[...] The municipal wireless startup MetroFi that champions the free ad-supported WiFi model has been in the spotlight recently, though not all of it rosy. The company turned on its Foster City, California WiFi network this week, and won a contract with AT&T to cover Riverside. CEO Chuck Haas even told us yesterday that the company quietly raised a series B round of $6 million in funding from the Sevin Rosen Fund and August Capital in June to bring the company’s total funding to $15 million (the website still says $9 million series A). [...]
[...] MetroFi just landed a nice contract with ATT to do their Riverside area. Metro WiFi just received a boost; Technically Speaking at least. [...]
The City of Riverside owns and operates its own municipal utility system which includes electric service.
The city owns and maintains the sub-stations, grid, poles and vaults.
Something that is not widely known is that Riverside Muncipal Utilities has deployed a city-wide fiber system. Charter Communications (the incumbent cable company) partially leases the city owned and operated fiber system to provide internet services to their Rverside customers under a separate agreement from the cable television franchise agreement. Charters equipment actually sits in the electrical cabinents throughout the city.
I believe Riverside will be the first city in the nation where the incumbent Telco and Cable company will be sharing the same infrastructure to deploy high-speed internet.
Of course, AT&T and the former SBC and Pacific Bell have their own poles within Riverside, but the approved RFP calls for AT&T to deploy using the municipal utility infrastructure.
This RFP also has a low-income requirement built in that requires free computers and no/low cost wireless cards. I have not seen that requirement in other RFP’s for city-wide Wi-Fi.
Some new things in the Riverside RFP that are worth watching in six, nine, twelve and eighteen months from deployment and look back to review if the extrea goodies have been deployed, or does the winning bidder(s) cry for mercy to the city council that they can’t provide free wireless on an ad-supported basis and the low-income component for free equipment is killing them revenue wise.
My gut tells me the bidders will be back during the contract asking for a change in terms. No evidence to support this, other than a gut feeling and you read it here first!
[...] Not long ago, we reported that AT&T is working with officials in Riverside, Ca.¬†It’s clear that incumbents have much more to gain by partnering with municipal governments than by trying to defeat their proposals.¬†New competitors nibbling¬†at incumbent territory threaten to gain holds in major markets where telcos refuse to play. For instance, Earthlink‚Äôs partnership in San Francisco, bogged down though it is in negotiations, is a case in point. — Carol Ellison In Municipal Wireless, Municipal Wireless/Bids, Community/Guest Commentary Posted Tuesday, January 2, 2007 [...]