Comments on: Long Island Wi-Fi project delayed again, maybe permanently http://www.muniwireless.com/2008/07/27/long-island-wi-fi-project-delayed-again/ Municipal wireless, citywide WiFi, WiMAX, broadband news Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:52:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Craig Plunkett http://www.muniwireless.com/2008/07/27/long-island-wi-fi-project-delayed-again/comment-page-1/#comment-34525 Craig Plunkett Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:58:16 +0000 http://www.muniwireless.com/?p=7939#comment-34525 By the time that the bids were due, anybody with any sense had not submitted a bid, or submitted one that had a sensible business plan. The counties selected the least cost option to them, e-Path. However, it has become obvious to the participants that the terms of the RFP are unsustainable, which most of the companies knew from the beginning. I'm a little miffed at my networks being called small, as our Fire Island network is about the same size as the Granbury network, but with a different design and business model, and I also said that if the county decides to become an anchor tenant, that the network be re-bid, not re-built, as that would change the terms of the RFP to be somewhat more attractive than their original ones. By the time that the bids were due, anybody with any sense had not submitted a bid, or submitted one that had a sensible business plan. The counties selected the least cost option to them, e-Path. However, it has become obvious to the participants that the terms of the RFP are unsustainable, which most of the companies knew from the beginning.

I’m a little miffed at my networks being called small, as our Fire Island network is about the same size as the Granbury network, but with a different design and business model, and I also said that if the county decides to become an anchor tenant, that the network be re-bid, not re-built, as that would change the terms of the RFP to be somewhat more attractive than their original ones.

]]> By: Esme Vos http://www.muniwireless.com/2008/07/27/long-island-wi-fi-project-delayed-again/comment-page-1/#comment-34524 Esme Vos Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:21:01 +0000 http://www.muniwireless.com/?p=7939#comment-34524 Anthony, If I put out a public tender for a project of this magnitude, I would want someone with a lot of experience and capital -- preferably a publicly traded company. But even publicly traded companies such as EarthLink can pull out of these projects. EarthLink, as you recall, did not even get around to finishing one. They ran out of money, not because of muni wireless, but because of their ridiculous Helio joint venture with SK Telecom. Anthony,

If I put out a public tender for a project of this magnitude, I would want someone with a lot of experience and capital — preferably a publicly traded company. But even publicly traded companies such as EarthLink can pull out of these projects. EarthLink, as you recall, did not even get around to finishing one. They ran out of money, not because of muni wireless, but because of their ridiculous Helio joint venture with SK Telecom.

]]> By: AnthonyTull http://www.muniwireless.com/2008/07/27/long-island-wi-fi-project-delayed-again/comment-page-1/#comment-34523 AnthonyTull Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:46:17 +0000 http://www.muniwireless.com/?p=7939#comment-34523 Really the reason that E-Path could not afford the $50/pole/yr rate is due to how many poles that would involve. The cellular install base would be considerably less I would guess. The $9.68 rate appears to be for energy cost only. This would be in line with other agreements I have seen including ours. However there is usually an add on pole rental. With our pole agreement that pole rental is approximately twice the energy cost. I would expect to see the pole rental cost total in this situation to be approximately $30/pole/yr. Really the root cause of the problem as you said that this was not negotiated and signed beforehand. I do not understand how these projects can be this far into the process without these basics costs being established. It tells me that there was no real investigation done into the financial model of this project prior to signing of the contract to deploy. I have been preaching for 3 years now that the most important part of these projects is due diligence by the governmental agency to verify that the financial model is sound and valid. Really the reason that E-Path could not afford the $50/pole/yr rate is due to how many poles that would involve. The cellular install base would be considerably less I would guess. The $9.68 rate appears to be for energy cost only. This would be in line with other agreements I have seen including ours. However there is usually an add on pole rental. With our pole agreement that pole rental is approximately twice the energy cost. I would expect to see the pole rental cost total in this situation to be approximately $30/pole/yr.

Really the root cause of the problem as you said that this was not negotiated and signed beforehand. I do not understand how these projects can be this far into the process without these basics costs being established. It tells me that there was no real investigation done into the financial model of this project prior to signing of the contract to deploy. I have been preaching for 3 years now that the most important part of these projects is due diligence by the governmental agency to verify that the financial model is sound and valid.

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