IP Democracy: MuniWireless Report and Conference

MuniWireless founder Esme Vos has just published a report called “2005 Municipal Wireless State of the Market Report,” which she researched and wrote in collaboration with Microcast Corporation. Vos will be presenting the study’s findings this week at a 9/28-9/29 conference in San Francisco. Among it findings:

U.S. cities, towns and counties will spend nearly $700 million over the next three years to build municipal-owned wireless broadband networks. Moreover, 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…More than 60% of total 2005 municipal wireless network spending is being done by large cities, a figure expected to hold fairly constant in the next two years.

The top application for current municipal wireless networks is public safety (police, fire, emergency services). Just over half of U.S. municipalities that have deployed municipal wireless have done so for public safety.

In its last issue, MuniWireless reported that Portland has issued an RFP for a citywide wireless network.

Posted by Mitch Shapiro on September 27, 2005 12:03 PM to IP Democracy