The expansion of wireless networks through local authorities is a major boost to reducing social exclusion, expanding economic development and aiding community safety.
Many private suppliers, such as BT, are now arranging alliances with councils to roll out outdoor municipal wireless networks using council-owned property on which to fix the hardware.
Last week, BT announced it was expanding its wireless cities programme, which provides wireless connectivity in town centres across the UK, to Manchester, Belfast and Waltham Forest. It already has contracts with Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds, Edinburgh, Portsmouth, Cardiff, Sheffield, Bristol and Westminster city councils. With these deals, users need a subscription with BT to access the connections.
Other companies are also rolling out outdoor wireless networks, including The Cloud and Pipex. Latest developments will be unveiled next week at the second European wireless and digital cities congress in Cannes, France (www.wirelesscitiescongress.eu) where several of the speakers are from UK cities such as Manchester and Westminster.
Spending on municipal wireless networks in the UK and the US is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 48% from £450m this year to £6.4bn in 2012, according to a report. Municipal wireless is still in the early stages of development but the report from market analyst Datamonitor says the trend is set to sharply change in the UK and the US over the next five years, as local governments and Internet service providers recognise the economic and community benefits of wireless networks.
Local authorities have a key role in creating wireless cities as partners because they own the infrastructure such as lampposts and street furniture which host the transmitters. They also directly benefit, as their frontline staff are able to use their own wireless – or wi-fi – devices to contact the back office. Wi-fi also helps make cities safer, as CCTV cameras can become mobile, no longer needing fixed points for access, and may be moved to where they are most required.
More far-sighted councils also understand that enabling greater Internet use helps reduce social exclusion by allowing poorer residents better access to public services, as well as boosting local business.
Networks use existing street furniture to deploy low-powered transmitters to create high-speed wireless broadband ‘hotspots’. These are then linked together to create a ‘cloud’ or ‘hotzone’ of permanent access, enabling both the transmitting and receiving of online information.
Westminster is one of the UK’s leading wireless cities, with 244,000 residents, six million business visitors a year, and 28.5 million people visiting each year who will have access to a wireless network across certain areas.
Working with Vertex and BT as part of its One City vision, Westminster has used wireless in areas such as improved traffic management, council service provision and community safety. By November, aims to have built the biggest wireless hotspot in Europe, extending to eight square miles by next August. It is also organising a competition to find the best network application idea.
The wireless roll out campaign in the UK has been backed by the DCLG, which last July unveiled the winner of its digital challenge competition. Sunderland City Council was named winner and received £3m to deliver its plans for a digitally-enabled community.
The digital challenge saw cities, towns and regions outline their visions for a digitally-enabled society designed to better meet the needs of local communities and citizens. Since the finalists were announced last year, the 10 regional partnerships have been working together and have formed the DC10.
The other nine members of the DC10 are Stratford-upon-Avon DC, Birmingham City/Shropshire CC, Norfolk CC/Norfolk Ambition County Strategic Partnership, Ealing LBC, Bristol City, Nottingham City/Nottinghamshire CC, Kingston-upon-Hull City Council, Milton Keynes Council, and Manchester City Council/Tameside MBC.
As Nick Leon, of Imperial College, London, says: ‘Cities throughout the world are seeking to transform themselves and become hubs of innovation in the knowledge economy. But, to innovate, people need to communicate.’
Investment in building and operating public wireless networks in Europe for European cities is estimated to reach £70m over the next two years, and by 2008, there will be some 160 million wi-fi-enabled devices in western Europe. w
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