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Municipal Broadband
Networks |
400 Cities Worldwide Planning
To Deploy Municipal Broadband Networks
Other Topics: Build WiMAX Networks,
WiMAX Broadband Services Russia
Wi-Fi Technology News
January 27, 2006
"Resisting municipal broadband
is futile, as deployments set to double in 2006," says Visiongain
report.
San Francisco, CA, and London, UK -- There are over 400 cities worldwide
planning to deploy municipal broadband networks and the number will
double in 2006, making community broadband initiatives a very real and
significant trend. That is the finding of the latest report, "Municipal
Broadband Networks: Market impact and implications, 2006-2011",
published by industry research firm visiongain.
Despite legal opposition and intense lobbying from incumbent telcos and
cable companies, municipal broadband is coming and is here to stay. As
of Q1 2006, there are over 100 city and regional wireless broadband
networks operational worldwide, more than 40 of which are in the US. |
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Small town rural deployments were the beginning of the wave, but the
tide is now embracing large urban metropolises. New York, San Francisco,
Rome and Paris are among the major cities planning wide-scale
deployments. While these networks present yet another new competitive
threat to the broadband market landscape, there are opportunities to be
grasped for service providers, whether fixed-line or wireless, if these
companies play their cards right. Major vendors, such as Motorola,
Cisco, HP and IBM are already reaping cumulative contract awards running
into hundreds of millions of dollars.
"Generally speaking, we believe resistance towards Muni networks is
futile," says lead author Pam Duffey. "Finer points of the debate aside,
it is fast becoming a city or state government duty to provide at least
the means for widespread broadband service to the citizenry. By
2010/2011, we believe the majority of cities and townships in the US
will have a municipal wireless network in place and the focus then will
be in uniting them into a seamless, if not centralised, national
network."
"New and emerging applications such as digital libraries, virtual
laboratories, distance-independent learning and tele-immersion will
require broadband speeds and reverse the digital divide. In addition,
applications such as LBS and gaming over city-wide networks could
seriously threaten existing carrier business models," adds Duffey.
For a large number of reasons, municipalities are considering the
concept of a Municipal Broadband Network as the "fifth utility." These
communities are choosing between deploying fibre and a wireless
broadband network using Wi-Fi hotspots, mesh networks or pre-WiMAX
technology. There will be a significant build-out, blending technologies
and building on existing service, both wired and unwired.
However, many technological and business factors need to be considered,
any one of which can better or worsen the outcome for any given
municipality. Often, cities lack sufficient experience and knowledge of
technologies to make the best choices and compound the problem further
by inadequately funding the effort or by employing a business model that
can not sustain the endeavor.
This report examines the various technology options open to communities
in deploying broadband networks, as well as the business models,
assessing the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. It looks at
case studies of successful and failed initiatives, identifying and
outlining the reasons behind them. The impact that these networks have
had and will have on local markets and incumbent operators are also
analysed.
About visiongain
visiongain is one of the fastest growing and most innovative independent
media companies in Europe. Based in London, UK, visiongain produces a
host of business-2-business conferences, newsletters, management reports
and e-zines focusing on the Telecoms, Pharmaceutical and Defence
sectors.
Visiongain publishes reports produced by its in-house analysts, who are
qualified experts in their field. Visiongain has firmly established
itself as the first port-of-call for the business professional, who
needs independent, high quality, original material to rely and depend
on.
For more information on visiongain, please visit the website: http://www.visiongainintelligence.com |
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