MuniWireless

Taiwan’s M-City Wi-Fi network is expanding to include Kinmen County, a group of islands 200 kilometers from Taiwan. Although Kinmen County (pop. 80,000; 153 square km) is in the southwest of Fujian province (China), the Taiwanese government controls it.

Kinmen is the largest island and has become popular with tourists ever since the Chinese government allowed its citizens to travel directly to Kinmen. To provide Wi-Fi access to visitors, the Taiwanese government decided to expand its M-City project to the islands. Taipei, which is considered to have the largest citywide Wi-Fi network in the world, is part of the M-City project. The government, in partnership with private companies, is rolling out Wi-Fi in other Taiwanese municipalities.

Details of the Kinman County project

Chu-I Enterprise deployed the network for the county using Proxim’s Tsunami GX products for the wireless backbone as well as the links between Kinmen and the smaller islands. Proxim Tsunami MP.11 products were deployed to connect all the villages together and ORiNOCO AP4000 MR-LRs are used to provide Wi-Fi voice and data access in each village. TW-Airnet is the wireless ISP that will provide Wi-Fi service. Chu-I and TW-Airnet are subsidiaries of Chung Hwa United Telecom (CHUT) group, Taiwan’s largest wireless ISP.

Details of the Taipei project

Here’s the status of the Taipei citywide Wi-Fi project (called Wi-Fly) as of February 2008:

• the deal between Taipei and Q-Ware calls for a build-and-operate (BO) tender that grants a nine-year franchise of construction and operation of the network;
• Q-ware Systems can install access points (APs) on all city-owned public facilities;
• 4600 wireless access points are installed in an area of 134 square kilometers, where 90% of the population resides.

Here is what Q-Ware is charging:

(1) Post-paid:

• 399 TWD per month ($13)
• 4,200 TWD per year ($139)

(2) Pre-paid

• PC/NB (hotspots): 100 TWD per day ($3.30), 500 TWD per month ($16.40)
• PDA/SONY PSP (retail channels): 1800 TWD per year ($60)
• iPod touch (retail channels): 1200 TWD per year ($40)

Comparisons to the Singapore Wi-Fi project

Unlike US cities which entered into partnerships with small, relatively weak and undercapitalized market players, Taiwan and Singapore have partnered with large, well-established firms. In Singapore, Singtel, the incumbent, plus iCell and QMax, two operators, have set up 7200 wireless hotspots in cooperation with the government of Singapore. The network has over 800,000 users who enjoy free Wi-Fi access; however, after the initial three-year period is over, the operators will charge for Wi-Fi service. Read more about Singapore’s Wi-Fi network here.

US cities not partnering with big carriers

The only US city of a significant size that has entered into a contract with an established, well-funded telecoms operator is Riverside, California. AT&T has deployed a citywide network in Riverside and is receiving $4 million over five years for the city’s own use of the network. Riverside will use the network for remote meter reading, public safety and traffic control in the beginning, and over time, will expand the number of applications that use the network. Read more about Riverside’s municipal wireless network here.

Philadelphia, whose citywide network was a model for large American cities, has recently approved the transfer of the network from EarthLink to a group of local investors. When EarthLink pulled out of the municipal wireless business last year, it threatened to shut down the Philadelphia network unless the city put up money for the network or found a buyer. At the last moment, a group of investors stepped in to rescue the network. EarthLink has been under pressure from its shareholders to cut costs, in large part because of its failed investment in Helio, a mobile virtual network operator. EarthLink has stopped putting money into its Helio venture with SK Telecom, a Korean operator.

Related posts:

1. Hangzhou, China deploys first phase of muni wireless network
2. Update: Taipei citywide Wi-Fi project
3. Taipei unwired