A few months back Verizon kicked up a lobbying storm in the Pennsylvania legislature when it came to be known that the city of Philadelphia were planning to build their own municipal Wi-Fi network. In a piece written for C|Net the CIO for the city shoots back. Whether you agree or disagree with her, this is a well-written, passionate piece.
I really think Verizon come out with some egg on their face in this one, and I say that as someone who is a strong advocate for free markets. City leaders in Philadelphia are struggling to a certain extent with economic development of their population, and the digital divide is a huge element of that development in today’s world. City leaders are right to step in and provide broadband infrastructure to their constituents when private companies either cannot or will not do it themselves. In this case Wi-Fi simply gives the city a cheap and easy way to provide basic infrastructure.
Verizon wasn’t going to do anything of the kind. We’ve seen incumbent carriers and cable companies refrain from deploying broadband facilities in locales where the market wasn’t there for a commercial service. They’re in business to make a profit for their shareholders, so that’s all fine and good. But the managers of the city are elected or appointed to serve even those people who are underserved by commercial services. If the taxpayers of Philly feel adequately served by these individuals, such that they’re re-elected to office, then that’s a vote of confidence that tax dollars are well spent on deploying broadband to serve under-served populations. Competing with commercial businesses may not be considered an appropriate use of tax dollars, but economic development certainly is. Its time telecommunications providers of all stripes (yes, this means YOU, too, Mr. Cable Company Guy) realized that the broadband services they deliver have quickly become necessary life blood for an information nation. Simply deciding an area is not economically viable for your service isnt the end of the concern for those who live there. If commercial leaders are not going to take on a roll, then what other choice do they leave municipal leaders? Once commercial operations walk away from an area, economic development becomes one of those externalities for which governments can and should be held responsible.
Verizon are showing that they’re missing the point on the value of broadband to customers who do pay for commercial services. Regarding free municipal Wi-Fi as a challenger to your commercial broadband offering is setting the bar REALLY low for your own service. Free Wi-Fi is, by its very nature, going to have spotty coverage, many points of congestion and a complete lack of security. Verizon and other providers have real competitive advantages over plain, muni Wi-Fi that should allow them to compete. Guaranteed levels of performance, reliability, security and bundled services such as e-mail are just a few competitive advantages commercial broadband will have. Verizon could even turn the situation around and to their advantage by offering value-added IPSec virtual private network (VPN) clients to their DSL subscribers in Philly so that they can use the muni Wi-Fi when they’re out and about with an added touch of security the general public won’t have.
