MuniWireless

Craig Settles is conducting a survey on the impact of municipal wired and wireless networks on economic development. If you are an executive or manager of an economic development organization, please take the survey online.

The survey is sponsored for the second year by the International Economic Development Council. This year’s survey addresses three areas:

1. the impact of citywide and regional broadband networks on economic development;
2. the influence of wireless and wired networks that just cover commercial zones or districts within a city: and
3. how muni or community broadband affects personal economic development and individual entrepreneurship within underserved communities.

There are some interesting trends unfolding from the nearly 200 people who’ve already completed the survey. Other executives and managers of economic development organizations are encouraged to fill it in.

Some early results

Wired municipal networks, predominately fiber, appear to have the edge over wireless networks in improving local economic development. This is true both for the value that professionals have observed in areas where networks are in place, and the value survey respondents expect to see in areas where these networks have yet to be built.

• 19% of cities and counties of those surveyed have wired networks that businesses can access, as compared to 3% whose areas have wireless networks.
• 7% of survey respondents say their cities or counties are currently building a wireless network and an equal percentage says wired networks are being built in their areas.
• 41% of respondents believe their wired networks have directly or indirectly enticed new businesses into the area, while 31% of those with wireless networks feel the same.
• 45% with wired networks believe these directly or indirectly influence businesses to stay, and 34% feel this way about their wireless network.
• 42% believe wired networks help their local businesses be more competitive, and 25% believe the same about their wireless networks.
• An almost equal number of survey respondents believe their wired (22%) and wireless (20%) networks will revitalize depressed business areas.

Keep an eye on Craig Settles’s blog in December for the complete survey results and his analysis of the personal as well as business economic development changes muni networks can stimulate. In the meantime, you can get a copy of last year’s survey report.

Related posts:

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2. NYC Economic Development Corp issues RFP for broadband feasibility study
3. St. Paul, Minnesota posts broadband assessment and economic impact study