New Orleans citywide WiFi deployment: public versus private sector approaches

¶ … New Orleans be Deploying a WiFi Hook-Up Citywide, or Should This be Left to the Private Sector?

Although proponents cite a number of benefits, a recent initiative by the City of New Orleans to deploy a Wi-Fi system city-wide has attracted a significant amount of attention because critics emphasize that the plan places the municipality in direct competition with private telecommunications providers. To determine the facts and rationale in this initiative, this paper provides a review of the literature to determine whether New Orleans should deploy this citywide Wi-Fi system or whether it should be left to the private sector. A discussion concerning the eventualities that might result from the private sector if the city does not act is followed by an analysis of how complicated it is to deploy this technology. Finally, a discussion concerning who will pay the costs of this initiative and who will benefit is followed by an assessment of where this technology is going in the long run. A summary of the research and important findings are presented in the conclusion.

Review and Discussion

If the city does not act, what are the chances the private sector will?

Just as nature abhors a vacuum, the private telecommunications sector abhors a neglected niche and the private sector in a number of other cities, including Philadelphia, San Francisco, Madison, Wisconson (Reardon, 2010) and Tempe, Arizona (Hayes, 2005) have proposed citywide Wi-Fi networks comparable to the Wi-Fi initiative that is being deployed in New Orleans. Unlike these citywide networks, though, the Wi-Fi network being deployed in New Orleans will be owned and operated by the city (Bird, 2005). City officials in New Orleans argue that the private sector has not been able to satisfy the city's telecommunications needs in a cost-effective or timely fashion, and insist that the Wi-Fi initiative represents the best alternative to providing wireless coverage for the entire city at present. It should be noted, though, that the state of emergency that existed in New Orleans provided a unique opportunity for city leaders to gain what could be perceived as an unfair advantage over the private telecommunications sector in deploying the Wi-Fi network in question. As Bird points out, "Interestingly, [New Orleans city leaders] are only able to do this while a state of emergency remains in place as technically their planned 512 Kbps service violates state law prohibiting municipalities from offering access at speeds in excess of 144 Kbps" (2005, para. 1).

Despite offers from BellSouth to deploy a citywide WiMAX network and an offer from Verizon Wireless to provide coverage using its existing EV-DO network, city officials in New Orleans maintain these alternatives are too expensive and the technology is already included in most laptop computers today (Reardon, 2010). In contrast to Wi-Fi, WiMAX does appear to represent a viable alternative to the Wi-Fi approach being deployed in New Orleans. Rather that providing wireless coverage for the localized areas that are characteristic of Wi-Fi networks, WiMAX networks are also capable of providing citywide wireless coverage with less infrastructure being required (Dingwall, 2006).

In a sour-grapes response to the planned deployment by New Orleans, a representative of Verizon suggested that city officials in New Orleans should stick with what they do best and leave the high-tech stuff to the information technology professionals: "Cities have core competencies that include things like sweeping streets and keeping neighborhoods safe. But building, running and maintaining a wireless network is a whole different ball game. Municipalities that are looking at offering wireless service to their citizens underscore the value proposition that we have in the marketplace" (quoted in Reardon, 2010 at para. 3). Notwithstanding this admonition from the telecommunications industry, city officials in New Orleans are committed to the Wi-Fi initiative which is expected to expand into additional sectors of the city as they are rebuilt following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina (Reardon, 2010).

How complicated is it to deploy this technology?

Originally developed for short-range radio networks, wireless technology has benefited from a wide range of innovations in mobile technology since its introduction that facilitate its deployment (Whittaker, 2004). At present, wireless networks are able to provide telecommunication services including Internet service within specific frequencies without the same line of sight constraints that characterize some other approaches (Whittaker, 2004). Today, not only are Wi-Fi networks cost-effective to administer, they are also relatively easy to deploy. In this regard, Hayes emphasizes that, "There's nothing special about the technical details of the project. Like other municipal wireless systems, the one in New Orleans uses a mesh network of antennas mounted on existing utility poles" (2005, para. 3).

According to Williams (2007), the routers used in a Wi-Fi network such as the one being deployed in New Orleans are about the size of a microwave oven and can be attached to any existing utility pole. "Because there are no large towers," Williams adds that, "no zoning ordinances or variance approvals are required. No specialized skills are needed; installation averages 15 minutes per pole" (p. 16). Given the city's coastal location and the extreme weather conditions it experiences on a regular basis, a Wi-Fi network appears to be a good choice: "The equipment is designed and built for environmental extremes" (Williams, 2007, p. 16). Moreover, the Wi-Fi system being deployed in New Orleans integrates a fiber optics network that is already in place, further facilitating the deployment and operation of the network (Hayes, 2005).

Who will pay the costs and who will obtain the benefits?

Although commercial enterprises and private consumers alike can benefit from a city-wide Wi-Fi network, there are substantive benefits that accrue to the public sector as well, particularly among first responders, that proponents insist justify the costs of deployment for cities such as New Orleans that have historically experienced natural disasters on a regular basis. In this regard, Hayes emphasizes that, "Wi-Fi is something New Orleans can use right now. No, not for the tourists (who aren't there anyway). But for police, fire and emergency, personnel. And building inspectors. And contractors filing permits" (2005, para. 1-2).

Moreover, Reardon (2010) notes that the Wi-Fi system being deployed by the city has a secure bandwidth that will be used by these emergency first responders with an unsecured bandwidth being reserved to provide Internet access to city residents, and presumably tourists, conventioneers and businesses as well. This initiative appears to be well timed given the gradual return to normalcy within the city's tourist districts and the draw that the citywide Wi-Fi network is expected to add to the city's attractiveness as a destination. In this regard, Wasserman (2010) reports that, "Tourist and business visits to New Orleans are inching up with 7.6 million visitors in 2008. In 2004, the year before Katrina the city attracted a little more than 10.1 million visitors" (p. 37). Finally, Reardon (2010) reports that although the costs of the initiative have not been disclosed by city officials to date, as noted above, the Wi-Fi network will be owned and operated the city, although it is expected that its operation will be outsourced in the future (Bird, 2005).

Where is this technology going in the long run?

The day will come in the not-too-distant future when ubiquitous computing has truly been achieved, and the Internet and other computer-assisted devices will become totally subsumed into the human environment. Information will be available with the wave of a hand or the blink of an eye, and the current interfaces with computer-based applications such as QWERTY keyboards, mice, styli and buttons will simply disappear (to be replaced with who-knows-what?). When this remarkable day finally arrives, the enormous capabilities of ubiquitous computing will appear to be magic to people from just a few decades or even years ago, and all signs and trends indicate this process continues unabated today. In the meantime, a number of interim technologies are widely available that are paving the way towards ubiquitous computing, including Wi-Fi technologies that provide wireless communications services to large numbers of users within a metropolitan area.