Many unknowns still exist for the Los Angeles...
Many unknowns still exist for the Los Angeles City Council plan to bring free Wi-Fi to the city through a request for proposal (RFP) process, said Steve Reneker, the city’s Information Technology Agency general manager, on a Tuesday Gigabit Nation…
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podcast. The council last week unanimously passed Los Angeles City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s proposal to bring free citywide wireless broadband to Los Angeles (http://bit.ly/HFhaOZ). The network will be built on a fiber-to-the home infrastructure with basic and premium packages, said Reneker. While cities such as Chattanooga and Kansas City have successfully developed their own gigabit networks, Los Angeles would be the largest city -- about 3.8 million people -- to complete this kind of project if everything goes according to plan, said Reneker. The city’s RFP will ask for the vendor, or coalition of vendors, to charge no connection fees, reach all homes, businesses and high-rises, and to allow the users to opt in to the network at any time, said Reneker. “We have a huge economic development sector with small- and medium-size tech companies, and they should be able to get affordable broadband,” he said. The network will take three to five years to complete, he said. The city will provide incentives to the vendors such as expediting right of way and a “guaranteed revenue stream for 10 years,” said Reneker. The city hopes to find a vendor that can also support its cloud data centers and VoIP functions within its network, he said. The city wants to start installing conduit next year when a $3 billion street repair program begins, said Reneker. “We will require all parties to have inspectors for rights of way issues,” he said. The city intends for the network to be open access, but it could change once the vendor is selected, said Reneker. The take rate needs to be able to meet the investments of the vendor, said Reneker. “Most carriers are going to build their networks where the revenues can be made to meet the bottom line unless you have a project like ours where the network needs to offer service to everyone,” he said.