Is it time for Muni WiFi from the Big Wireless Carriers?

Back in 2001 while taking some courses to finish my Masters degree I wrote a paper on the business case for a wireless carrier like Verizon Wireless, who I was working for at the time, to deploy WiFi equipment at each of their cell locations. While using existing infrastructure and asset the big wireless carrier could quickly build a large wireless data network. But Verizon Wireless and Qualcomm had a different view of what the future of wide area wireless data looked like. Qualcomm still wants to discount the compelling use of WiFi technology for Muni wireless broadband systems. Mobile WiMAX may be a way to have WiFi like connection across a lager area.

According to Yankee Group estimates there are around 300 municipal wireless projects in the US, and municipal wireless projects will probably account for a USD 400 million spend next year, a heady year-on-year growth, albeit from a modest base. I may be way off base but it seems that the big wireless carriers could easily take control of this rapidly growing Muni WiFi movement and spin it to their advantage. The wireless carriers are seeing a shift in traditional voice revenue as IP convergence takes place as more data and IP packets travel across these wide area wireless connections. For now it is still a distance versus speed issue. Meaning distance away from a Cell Site/AP versus the actual bandwidth the users will experience out in the field. Newer UTMS and EVDO technologies have significantly increased the mobile data speeds but are still much slower than the old 802.11b standard that has been around for some time now. This is why it is important to use a Mobile Router solution either via hardware or software that allows for the user to seamless roam between wireless networks. This is where I feel the wireless carriers could have really stepped up and hit a home run with Wide Area Networks in place and with the in house resources the major wireless carriers could have deployed smaller higher speed WiFi type network that would roam onto their wide area mobile data networks. Sprint and T-Mobile probably did the most with regards to WiFi with agreements with Star Bucks, major airports, and hot spots aggregator like Boingo and Wayport. Maybe the timing is now right for the big carriers to take 802.11 seriously and use it to their advantage.