Sacramento’s muni network awaits funding

The Sacramento Bee is reporting that the California city’s plan to deploy a city-wide Wi-Fi network is struggling, as the consortium behind the project searches for the necessary $7 million to $9 million needed for the deployment. But Anne-Marie Fowler, who heads the Sacramento Metro Connect consortium, says the group has nearly attained the investments and credit lines it needs to launch the first phase.The Sacramento Bee is reporting that the California city’s plan to deploy a city-wide Wi-Fi network is struggling, as the consortium behind the project searches for the necessary $7 million to $9 million needed for the deployment. But Anne-Marie Fowler, who heads the Sacramento Metro Connect consortium, says the group has nearly attained the investments and credit lines it needs to launch the first phase.

Fowler says “we have a lot of interested investors, but it’s a matter of assembling the right group. We don’t want someone coming in for a quick buck. We want someone who will stay with us for a few years.” City officials quoted in the story say they are willing to work with Sacramento Metro Connect to insure the project gets built. Construction was to have begun last month.

Glenn Fleishman notes that the consortium, which includes IBM and Cisco, is not self-funding. In spite of the deep pockets of those corporate partners, Sacramento Metro Connect has had to find its own investments for the project. Here, as in other deployments which have run into trouble, the question facing investors is whether the required investment can produce expected returns.

That was the fundamental problem in the equation behind EarthLink’s retreat from the market. The Bee story, like many that have looked at muni wireless since EarthLink’s pull-back from the market, cites high-profile deployments in San Francisco and Chicago that have gone on hold.

Those comparisons are somewhat dated in light of the fact that a number of cities, including Houston and Chicago, have announced plans to proceed with muni wireless deployments. What seems to be evolving is a scenario where munis are revising their expectations and focusing on applications that will produce cost-saving efficiencies for the cities. This requires a completely different business model than those that focus primarily on providing consumer services.

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