End of the dream?

Just one year ago, news covered ambitious plans to build muni WiFi-based Internet networks to provide cheap and ubiquitous broadband access. One year later, the business case has not yet been satisfactory, and some concerns are raised both by municipalities and operators. Will the networks generate enough revenue to justify the multi-million-dollar investments to build and maintain them. For the moment, the answer is no. Many municipalities start dropping their plans (Chicago, .. ) while some operators are taking time to think on the future of muni WiFi networks (EarthLink in San Francisco, Houston, .;). Some cities (Mineapolis, Houston, ..) have agreed to help finance WiFi by sharing some of the upfront costs, but will it be enough. Most of them are well short of city-wide coverage. Even WiFi mesh equipment vendors are rumored to lay-off people. What is sure is that mass consumer adoption has not materialized enough. Market research firms, however, continue to predict strong rate of growth for WiFi mesh equipment through 2008, with much of this growth coming from muni-deployments already under development.