Muni wireless spending to hit $700 million

Municipalities will spend nearly $700 million on wireless broadband networks over the next three years, predicts a new study from an organization devoted to municipal wireless.

Muniwireless.com says the U.S. market will enjoy a compound annual growth rate of 134 percent between 2004 and 2007 and will exceed $400 million by 2007 as more municipalities, including larger cities like San Francisco and Portland, embark on wireless initiatives. The organization will unveil the results of its study at a conference it is sponsoring this week in San Francisco.

Countering that viewpoint, the Pacific Research Institute and the Heartland Institute today released a study advising the city of San Francisco to abandon its plans to build a WiFi network. Sonia Arrison, director of technology studies at PRI, said there is already ample access to broadband in San Francisco, and the city-owned network is likely to be a costly mistake.

The Muniwireless.com study says both large and small municipalities are interested in deploying wireless networks, with smaller cities and towns more concerned about providing broadband service where it isn’t available.

The study, authored by Esme Vos, founder of Muniwireless.com, said growth will more than double annually for the next three years, both in cities with populations of more than 500,000 people, and those with less than 100,000 residents. Larger cities will account for more than 60% of the total, however. Public safety is the top application for existing municipal networks as connecting police and fire vehicles, as well as first responder emergency vehicles with hospitals are among the key uses.