Wireless Task Force Report: Broadband for Boston

Wireless Task Force Report (2006). Broadband for Boston. City of
Boston.
www.cityofboston.gov/wireless/Boston%20Wireless%20Task%20Force%20Report%...
This detailed report by Boston’s Wireless Task Force investigates
options for a municipal broadband (wireless and fiber) network and
recommends that the city facilitate a carrier-neutral, open access,
wholesale-only broadband network, which will be run by a non-profit
organization. This model is important because, unlike the majority of
US municipal broadband projects, especially large-scale ones, it is not
a private-ownership model. At the same time, the model is not, by any
means, anti-private sector. It involves much private participation, and
has an explicit aim to increase competition in the broadband market.
The city hopes that the open network will make it “economically
feasible for anyone, including larger national Internet Service
Providers (ISPs), local companies, and nonprofits, to become a
broadband provider, and sell applications and services to end-users,”
(p. 7). The report provides a rationale for this model, and compares it
to other approaches. See p. 31 for a comparison chart on for-profit and
non-profit model risks and opportunities. The network’s priorities are
also forward-thinking in terms of openness and neutrality. They
include:
-Ubiquitous: coverage is available everywhere
-Affordable, Scalable Pricing Models: much cheaper and more
customizable than today’s options (price for home broadband should be
around $15/month)
-Interoperable: access is consistent throughout the city
-Open to extension by End-Users
-Open to Developments for Long-Tail Applications: published physical
and application interface standards
-Uncensored: no site blocking
-Secure/Trusted
-Non Discrimination of Applications and Services Also, the city’s
evaluation of infrastructure - what infrastructure already exists and
what infrastructure is needed to facilitate such a network – is
informative (p. 41). A similar process of infrastructure evaluation may
be useful for other communities.