Fixed Wireless Business

The Municipal WISP (Part II)

It may one day be as common for small cities and towns across America to offer broadband Internet access services as it is today for municipalities to provide electricity and water. Indeed, a few small towns already are offering Internet services.

by Gerry Blackwell [July 2, 2002]

More and more communities are coming to understand that fast Internet access is not just a luxury, but also an economic necessity. At least if municipalities want to attract and keep businesses, and if they want to ensure that their citizens have the opportunities and quality of life that other Americans have.

In the first of this three-part series on the innovative phenomenon of municipal wireless Internet service ventures, we saw how Knoxville, Tenn.-based WISP and RF network integrator is already working with 30 local governments in the south east and expects to install systems for 300 towns in the next three years.

NetStar is targeting very small communities—with populations of 10,000 and fewer. They may be the places least likely to attract cable and telephone companies or entrepreneurial WISPs to provide low-cost, high-speed Internet services, but they're not the only places. Even some larger communities are finding it necessary to provide their own Internet services.

In Allegany County, Maryland, four public sector partners have banded together to build AllCoNet 2, a countywide, "carrier class" broadband wireless network. It will provide coverage for 85 percent of the population and 90 percent of the county's businesses—most of which are concentrated in Cumberland, a city of about 21,000.

The four partners—Allegany County, the City of Cumberland, Allegany Board of Education and the Allegany County Public Library System—are currently seeking state and federal funding for the project.

The municipal market
Allegany County is a primarily rural area in an economically depressed part of the country. It's also over two hours from the nearest major population center—the city is almost equidistant from Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh. One cable television company is offering limited cable modem coverage in Cumberland, but nothing outside the area.

"We're hoping to attract businesses to set up here, specifically high-tech or biotech," says City of Cumberland AllCoNet network administrator Johnna Byers.

To do that, the area needs to be able to provide big-city services, including reliable broadband network connections. As Byers says, "There may be a kind of Catch-22—that in order for a Verizon to be looking [at providing broadband services in a place like this], you have to have sufficient business commitment. You need businesses to attract network providers, but you need the network to attract the businesses."

It's the "Digital Divide" in a nutshell. Allegany County will attempt to bridge it by building its own network.

The municipal backbone
The four charter partners have a huge head start on like-minded public sector groups. Since 1996, they have managed AllCoNet, a fixed wireless network that provides access and interconnection services to city and county offices, schools and libraries. AllCoNet also serves local non-profit organizations, including private schools, hospitals and church organizations.

The network uses 2.4 GHz and 900 MHz unlicensed spectrum. AllCoNet's 10-Mbps network includes eight towers interconnected with 2.4 GHz links. There are 85 buildings connected, each receiving 2 or 3 Mbps service. The T1-class Internet backbone connection is provided by SAILOR, a free network service established by Maryland Public Libraries.

AllCoNet is connected to more than 4,000 computers and serves over 11,000 students and an estimated 2,000 government and non-profit organization employees.

AllCoNet 2 will take AllCoNet to the next level. "In order to offer services to business, we need to expand the network," explains Byers. "AllCoNet 2 will be based on wireless fiber technology providing carrier class services."

The proposed network design includes a seven node wireless dual SONET ring, providing total capacity of from DS-3 (45 Mbps) to OC12 (622 Mbps) when fully built out. This is using 5.8 GHz U-NII-band equipment. Vendors for the project have not yet been identified.

Spur and last mile connections will use 2.4 GHz, probably 802.11b, technology. Some last mile connections will also use 900 MHz technologies.

AllCoNet 2 will not actually compete with local Internet service providers, it will partner with them. The four charter partners will manage the backbone network and last mile connections, as well as provide LAN interconnection services to customers with multiple sites.

"If a business in the area uses the AllCoNet 2 ring and wants to get to the Internet, they'll have to hop off the ring and get the service from a local ISP," Byers explains.

Municipal funding
Funding for the project remains uncertain. AllCoNet 2 will cost an estimated $4.9 million. The group has so far secured about $2.6 million. That includes a grant from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development ( DBED) and matching funding from local governments.

The partners are hoping to secure the rest or at least some of the rest from E-Rate—the Universal Service Fund for Schools and Libraries Program, which is administered by the Schools and Libraries Division of the non-profit Universal Service Administration Company.

"As far as we know, E-Rate [federal funds] could come any time from June on," Byers says. "But we're not sure what the time interval is or if they will release the funding to us at all. However, with the money we have thus far, we could begin working on some phases of the project."

AllCoNet 2 is unique from a couple of perspectives. The co-operation among the four main partners is clearly a model for other communities. "Everybody is taking [on] little pieces [of the project] here and there," Byers says. "It's working very well."

The business model, with the AllCoNet 2 project management group looking to partner with local ISPs, is also something ISPs should welcome. If it becomes the dominant business model in the municipal WISP arena, it will clearly make it much easier for dial-up ISPs to get into the broadband services business.

Think about it. Who would you rather partner with—the Verizons of this world, or the city government in your hometown? Next time: Buffalo MN, a municipal WISP already offering commercial service.

—End