To read the entire report, download the PDF.
Executive Summary
In 2004, the City of Minneapolis (MN) embarked on a broadband wireless initiative - Wireless Minneapolis – with the objectives of streamlining city services, addressing the digital divide and making low cost broadband services available to residents and businesses. When complete, the Wi-Fi Mesh network will span all of the City’s 59 square miles and will be one of the largest deployments in North America. The City has entered into a public private partnership with a local service provider - USI Wireless, to execute the project. The network will be funded, built and managed by USI Wireless, while the City will serve as an anchor tenant during the 10-year contract period. The agreement highlights include:
- $1.2 million annual commitment by the City to use the network; USI Wireless will build and operate the network.
- Creation of a Digital Inclusion Fund; USI Wireless will contribute $500 million in seed money & 5% of pretax revenue annually.
- Affordable access with monthly plans starting at $19.95 for residents, $29.95 for business customers and $12.00 for government users.
- Guaranteed levels of quality of service for both indoor and outdoor coverage.
- Free access for 90 community technology centers.
- Multi-lingual community portals with free “civic garden” access.
- The network deployment was completed in May 2008. While it is still early to evaluate the ROI and assess the social impact of the initiative, there are a number of early lessons learned for others embarking on this journey:
- City anchor tenancy along with the ability to provide public access is critical for the financial viability of the service provider.
- A network that supports city services, especially public safety, ensures that the service provider guarantees border-to-border coverage with a high level of quality of service.
- When addressing digital divide issues, it is important to look beyond free and/or cheap access; relevance of broadband use, access to affordable end-user devices and digital skills training are equally important.
- A dedicated project champion is required to manage internal and external relationships; a key for consensus building.
- It is important to look outside the box and find win-win solutions for all internal & external stakeholders involved including elected officials, city agencies, community members and private sector partners.
- To achieve high quality of service levels, attention to the technology & network design is imperative.
To read the entire report, download the PDF.