Community Broadband Series: Whither Municipal Wireless?

This article is one of an on-going series taken from The ABCs of Community Broadband: How Digital Transitions Will Transform America's Communities, One at a Time by John Cooper.


For those of us who've helped create this new wireless broadband market space, one of the challenges we're faced with today is how to define our industry, which most still call "Municipal Wireless," as it's recently been widely discredited by failed pioneer projects, many of which were launched amid hype and overconfidence. The good news is that when it comes to public approaches to broadband, Municipal Wireless may be toast, but that phase is over, and it was just a beginning, not the end. The sure thing that remains is Digital Transition - all communities must go through a transition to digital, replacing labor and paper-based processes with more efficient digital tools and processes. And because digital equipment runs on multiple types of wired and wireless commercial and private broadband networks, new alternatives are now made available for those communities ready to cast their lot with the 21st century. All it takes is a little planning, some nerve, a dash of leadership, some conversation, a little more planning, some funding, and of course, good luck. That may sound daunting, and it is, until one considers the alternative - economic stagnation and more of the same.

With lessons learned over five years of experimentation, Community Broadband and Digital Transitions are teed up and ready to go to work - all that's missing is the orientation to help civic leaders recognize the opportunity at hand and realize that our society is at the dawn of a new era, where creativity and the harnessing of human resources offer hope to all of America's communities. The ABCs of Community Broadband provides the orientation. There's also the will to embrace the future - that challenge lies ahead for our local community leaders.  But with this book, which will appear here in serial format over the coming year, leaders who become readers have a new tool to help educate themselves and their constituencies.

So enjoy this series here on this website, and should you get impatient and want to buy the book, it's as easy as hopping over to the MetroNetIQ eStore, and buying a copy. To make it even easier, we're offering a standing 15% discount for Digital Cities readers - just use this code when you make your purchase: QXXXDLXW.


Whither Municipal Wireless?
In January 2006, I rejected the term "Municipal Wireless" when I relaunched my website and consulting practice as MetroNetIQ. Having retooled UnwireMyCity.com, I believed at the time that defining the space by reference to city government-led initiatives was too limiting. Further, I'd seen equally valid and successful fiber projects, so "wireless" was too limiting as well. I recognized that "Community," "Metropolitan," and "Broadband" were more relevant terms. In three plus years, I've published over 700 blog posts dancing around these three terms, and I felt it was time to gather my work into a book for a wider audience.

In The ABCs of Community Broadband, I concentrate on three relevant, somewhat related terms. First, the title of the book refers to "Community Broadband," which connotes the mobilization of stakeholders from throughout a community to create a system that delivers broadband, which could be wired (FTTH, etc.), wireless (Wi-Fi mesh, etc.), or both. Second, the term "Digital Transition" in the subtitle refers to a process we all must go through in the coming decade - a steady adoption of digital tools and processes to take advantage of new technology options in order both to save money and to accomplish more. Those who move first will gain more experience sooner. Third, the term "Metropolitan Broadband" envisions a greater coverage