2005
Utilities and municipalities partner to deliver metro WiFi
By
Ron Chebra, of PA Consulting Group
Energy Markets,
May 2005
Within the past few months, a number of US municipalities have made news by endeavoring to provide free or low-cost wireless Internet access to the masses.
Latching on to the proliferation of 802.11b/g/n WiFi networks in commercial establishments, airports, hotels, public gatherings places, and corporate conference rooms, and assisted by the normal configuration of laptops with WiFi connectivity, these providers anticipate that wireless data services will fast become the preferred Internet and e-mail connectivity, not just for road warriors, but for enterprises as well.
While the debate between commercial broadband service providers and municipalities continues over issues such as cross-subsidies and public funding of commercial enterprises, and unnatural monopolies that are encroaching on competitive commercial services, clearly a key driver is that these metro networks will bring Internet connectivity at rates that are approximately 50% lower than the monthly rates of existing cable or DSL service providers. One area of debate is the belief that Internet access is a new essential public service that should be offered at reasonable rates by a new utility focused on providing access and information. Municipalities are leveraging the community service that these networks would bring to the general population to fulfill the vision of providing the Internet to the population Al Gore referred to as the “have-nots”.
Traditional broadband firms continue their conviction that current fee structures are based on sound business principals reflecting years of experience operating these infrastructures, managing obsolescence, and providing maintenance and support.
Regardless of how these debates resolve, it is very likely that the city-wide WiFi coverage trend will continue to gain traction.
Some large U.S. cities are either contemplating WiFi, or have set the wheels of progress in motion. Areas such as Philadelphia have already set their timelines for service (spring 2006), and are underway deploying poletop units. Similar plans have been announced in Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Lexington, KY, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle (with rumors that Chicago may soon be next). Last year, New York City issued a tender for its city-wide service; however, the focus is on city-wide services rather than consumer use. Because these cities represent some of the major U.S. population centers, planned municipal services are now forcing state governments to get involved.
One of the strategies that municipalities are using in their justification of these networks is that they can also service the needs of police, fire, first responders, and utilities.
Using semi-public wireless networks for utility services is not new. Among the earliest data networks deployed for utility services is the Metricom/Utilinet system that used unlicensed spectrum in the Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) band, the same bands that cordless phones us. Dating back to the mid-1980s, they were used for a range of utility distribution automation (DA) functions, and for automatic meter reading (AMR). While the date rates and throughput of these early services were a fraction of the current 802.11g and 802.11n networks, they provided a cost and coverage advantage over common terrestrial-based circuits and were under the utility control.
The Metricom network morphed into the “Ricochet” network, a commercial offering with higher speed, and was placed into service in major cities across the US. However, the cost of the infrastructure and the lack of early adopters forced the suspension of service in many cities, although it was temporarily re-lit in lower-Manhattan to support inter-agency service needs following 9/11 (a testimony to its resilience). Clearly, Ricochet was ahead of its time and plans now exist to re-light some earlier deployments.
Today Itron and Cellnet are the most widely deployed private, unlicensed utility-owned wireless networks and their presence continues to grow. However, they aim to be dedicated to internally targeted services for the utility.
With the advent of these Internet-connecting metro mesh networks, some questions immediately arise:
- Will utilities be approached as an anchor tenant?
- Are levels of control, security and availability able to support the new Cyber Security Standards (CIP)?
- Will they be robust, resilient and will coverage be adequate?
- Most importantly, are utilities prepared to place their critical communications infrastructure needs in the hands of the metro-WiFi owner?
The utility use of the network for reliable data will clearly force metro providers into service levels that are necessary for success, and learning how to offer a service that is likely to be classified as the next utility from a strategic, long-standing provider of water, gas or electric as a partner makes sense as well. Sounds like a win-win to me.
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