In the Jan. 2 Star article, "City looking for right hookup," Rick Fox is quoted advocating against municipal wireless broadband networks. Municipal broadband networks, both wireless and hard-wired, would provide Indianapolis with a resource that would not only generate non-tax city revenue and better position Indianapolis for high-tech industry, but also help close the digital divide and create opportunities for cultural development and entrepreneurs. By providing a low-cost, reliable alternative broadband service, the city would create a 21st-century "City Market" allowing goods and ideas to be shared within a greater community.
Broadband providers and the telephone and cable giants are actively seeking federal and state laws that would stymie efforts by local government to create municipal Wi-Fi. I would like to think that the representatives of AT&T and Comcast are not philosophically opposed to competition.
The industry's opposition and heavy-handed attempts to squash locally controlled Wi-Fi stem from a fear of the downward pressure municipal Wi-Fi would put on their own product prices; they are defending highly profitable business models at the expense of a competitive, consumer-oriented broadband marketplace. Now is the time to invest in municipal Wi-Fi so that Indianapolis does not fall behind other cities.
