« Bad design can kill | Main | All over the musical map » MuniWireless on San AntonioMuniWireless follows up on the San Antonio Express article I mentioned a few days ago, noting that SBC is not excited about free wireless in its home town. A quote from Gene Acuña of SBC in the article: "When a city seeks to provide such information services like Wi-Fi to nonpublic places in direct competition with the private sector, then we have some real concerns." However MuniWireless notes that "it does not look like the city itself will be providing Wi-Fi, rather it's a private initiative with some city support." My pal Ed Preston, VP of SalsaNet posts a comment saying that his organization is not supporting municipal wireless networks, but advocating all sorts of WiFi developments, fee-based and free, and advocates working with the major telecoms. Ed says The major Telecomms are NOT the enemy here, all you MuniWireless folks... they simply need to be educated and enlightened as to how they can make profit AND offer free access (like ad-sponsored portals). Remember also that they are responsible to shareholders at the end of the day, same as we are to our families and children, to put "food on the table".I'm not completely in agreement with Ed here – municipal wireless projects make sense in many contexts, and municipalities shouldn't be constrained from offering services and support that make sense. And SBC would seem less like an enemy if the company changed its behavior. If it looks, smells, and acts like an enemy, it's hard to think otherwise. It would be helpful if there was a frank and open discussion between big telco and muni wireless reps, but I'm afraid that ain't gonna happen. Companies like SBC don't have to listen or think about new paradigms. They can buy lobbying and advertising that has so far been effective in protecting their position as a de facto monopoly and emasculating the competition, and while some see evil in this, I think you'd be hard put to find evil individuals within SBC. SBC is part of the old AT&T culture which evolved over years of unchallenged monopolitic practice, which was supposedly more efficient without the chaos of competition. The 1982 AntiTrust Decree wasn't going to change the culture of AT&T and the Bell Operation Companies overnight. The problem we face today is that the large incumbent telcos have been fighting competitive local exchange carriers for years (which is to say, the "Baby Bells" have been fighting the new competitors enabled by the antitrust decree), and they're pretty nervous about the potential for tax-funded municipalities to become competitors, as well... not to mention the VOIP companies that offer a whole new paradigm for telephony. Companies like SBC and Verizon must feel like mountaineers who're neat the top of Mt. Everest, only to be stalled and turned back by a monster blizzard. I really want to appreciate SBC's side of the discussion about community broadband, but only after the change their tactics, start listening to us, too, and back their lobbyists off. I'm not holding my breath. [Link] jon posted this at 11:02 AM |
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