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Ten Myths About A Publicly Owned Information Network in Minneapolis, and the Facts

David Morris and Becca Vargo Daggett on municipal broadband - December 6, 2005, Wendy Wilde Show, Air America Minnesota (Part 1 and Part 2)

Ownership Matters With Wireless Systems - published November 15, 2005 in the Pioneer Press

Publicly Owned Broadband Would Serve Minneapolis Best - published August 1, 2005 in the Star-Tribune

Who Will Own Minneapolis' Information Highways? a fact sheet - August 2005

Who Will Own Minnesota's Information Highways? - a white paper from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, June 2005

Wireless (and Wired) Minneapolis

Cities urged to take charge of Wi-Fi;
Relinquishing control over new technology is bad policy, a group says.

BYLINE: Mark Brunswick; Staff Writer

BODY:
A Minneapolis-based organization that promotes local autonomy says Minnesota municipalities should consider building their own broadband infrastructure to keep prices affordable for Internet access.

In a report, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance also urged Minneapolis officials to rethink a plan to have a private company develop and run a citywide broadband network, suggesting it should follow the lead of St. Paul, which is considering a broad range of options, including city ownership.

"They have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to decide whether they have a seat at the table of the information economy in the future," said David Morris, the institute's vice president. "That means there should be municipal ownership of at least one of the information superhighways."

Morris said municipally owned broadband infrastructure can provide for "more robust competition" and be used as a way to protect customers "when private monopolies and duopolies misbehave."

"Allowing just one or two private companies, absentee-owned private companies at that, to own our information future puts us in danger," Morris said.

One key component of the broadband systems is the development of municipal-wide Wi-Fi systems. Nearly two dozen cities around the country have either started their own high-speed wireless Internet networks or have contracted with private companies to do so. Wi-Fi, which stands for "wireless fidelity," allows multiple computer users to make a wireless connection to the Internet. The technology is popular at coffee shops, restaurants, hotels and airports.

In the Twin Cities area, the city of Chaska has been among the first to embrace the technology. Last fall, Chaska began offering all 7,500 homes access to a city-run wireless broadband network, which is also used by city workers and police. The city charges $16 a month for the service. Buffalo and Windom are two other Minnesota cities with community-owned broadband systems.

Minneapolis has a backbone in place for Wi-Fi and is in the early stages of setting up a functioning network. A contract could be let by the end of the year.

"We think municipal ownership may be the only way to enforce competition," said Becca Vargo Daggett, a co-author of the report.

Calls to Minneapolis officials were not returned.