« Back to Basics, Back to Backhaul | Weblog | Analyst, Sampler, Tire Kicker or Strategic Buyer? »

From Irving to Irvine in Ten Days, By Way of San Marcos

I haven't posted a significant article on this site for 2-3 weeks, and I'm having withdrawals. I'm sitting now in a hotel room in Irvine, CA, after attending a remarkable exercise in regional coordination yesterday, where I helped to present results of a study I've been involved in for the past six months. Orange County is leading an effort to investigate its options for regional collaboration of a wireless broadband infrastructure, and they hosted a Business Summit yesterday attended by about 50 local and regional government leaders. I'll post more on that meeting in the next few days.

Last week, I spent three days in Irving, TX, where Broadband Properties magazine hosted a Summit, with the focus of the discussion mostly on FTTH, although a smattering of discussion on wireless options was thrown in. I'll post more on that meeting as well in the near term.

Finally, in between these two road trips, I've been wrapping up work on a consulting contract I've had with the university town of San Marcos, which sits just south of my hometown of Austin, TX. I've been engaged with San Marcos in some capacity or another for nearly two years, since June 2006, when I first made a presentation to a staff group. City leaders are now preparing to make a decision on buying a wireless mesh network, with a vote expected at the May 20 city council meeting. I feel like I've earned my PhD in Metropolitan Broadband through my in-depth work with San Marcos, and I'll be sharing what I've learned over the coming months.

For starters, I've put together two documents that I'd like to share with the readers of this site (you'll need to register to download these, but I assure you that it's a painless process, well worth the time!).

First is a paper titled Lowest Risk Publicly Owned Networks, which is a short (3 page) argument on why public ownership offers particular advantages to a city considering its broadband connectivity strategy.

Second is a paper titled Wi Fi Mesh Economics - Costs, which describes the cost elements of a 10-sq. mile mesh network, which can easily be divided by 10 to come up with a cost/sq mi, for help in estimating about what it might cost your city to build its own network.

Taken together, these documents offer interested city leaders a strong business rationale to start a metropolitan broadband project. While starting is only a first step, with multiple steps to follow, one must start by taking a first step if one is ever to finish and achieve a worthwhile objective...I've discovered that in 2008, there remains no reason for a city to put off starting a metropolitan broadband project.

Do not fall into the common trap of using the cacophony of bad news about municipal wireless and the EarthLink withdrawal from the market as an excuse to put off a project - that's just what it is, an EXCUSE for inaction. In fact, we've now moved beyond prudence when it comes to metropolitan broadband. I believe that it is now imprudent NOT to start a wireless broadband project, given what we know, so strong are the benefits of broadband to a community. In short, the opportunity costs of not starting a project now exceed the costs of starting a project.

The prudent city leader must now move beyond study to taking action.

Posted on May 09, 2008 at 11:20 AM

Comments


Post a comment




Remember Me?

(you may use HTML tags for style)