Saint Louis Park, Minnesota

Population: 45,000
Area: 16 square miles
Municipal Utilities: Water and sewer
Network Type: Citywide wireless mesh with fiber backhaul
Model: Municipally owned, privately operated by retail service provider, monthly subscription fees
Financing: Information technology enterprise fund (fiber), general obligation bonds (wireless)
Services Provided: Internet access

Saint Louis Park will begin building a citywide wireless network in early 2007. The wireless network builds on a fiber optic network the city and school district installed to replace leased T-1 lines for public buildings.

In April 2005, the city conducted informal citizen surveys to gauge interest in wireless Internet. Generally positive responses in the survey led the City Council to approve $58,750 for comprehensive study of the technical and financial feasibility of a new network, and examine options to ensure reasonably priced access. In July, the city held a town hall meeting at which residents discussed the results of the informal survey and the study plans.

In November 2005, the council approved the pilot project, with the plan to move ahead with citywide wireless unless the pilot demonstrates that it is not technically or financially possible.

The business model selected is a public-private partnership in which the City owns the network infrastructure, and a private company operates the network and provides retail services under contract with the city. The City looked at many business models. Their analysis indicated that it made sense to own the infrastructure. “We tried to define our goals first, based on survey work and so forth,” says Clint Pires, the city’s CIO. “We were very open to all the models that were out there, and the pros and cons of each. The council was looking for a partner that would share the risk.”

In December, the City issued two documents: a request for proposals for network operation and management, and a request for bids from hardware providers. They received 11 responses to the RFP (one was the City of Chaska, which was among the first cities in the country to go wireless), and two bids for hardware. Two local companies were chosen.

Beginning in April 2006, residents could subscribe to a pilot project covering about one square mile of the city. The City invested $280,000 in the pilot, approximately half for hardware and the rest for operations. The city-owned fiber optic network, approximately 15 miles installed in 2004, provides backhaul. The main thing dictating the pilot locations was the location of fiber, but they tried to get diversity in terms of topography, residential and commercial, single-family homes and apartments, and access to DSL (two-thirds of the city cannot get DSL).

The pilot met its two most important goals: expanding access to broadband, and evaluating the technology. On the former, it was very successful. Fully half of the subscribers previously used dial up or had no Internet connection at all.

In terms of evaluating the technology, it was also successful in that it showed that the chosen hardware (Tropos) did not meet the City’s expectations.

Despite the shortcomings of the pilot hardware, resident enthusiasm for the service convinced the council that it was worthwhile to pursue the project with another hardware vendor. In August 2006, armed with more specific guidelines for performance standards, the City Council voted to issue a new request for bids for hardware. In October, the city selected a new winning bidder. The company will begin installing a solar-powered wireless mesh network, and additional fiber, in early 2007.

Part of the analysis in the pilot was to determine if the network can be affordable and attractive to subscribers, while generating enough to pay off the capital investment and be an attractive business venture for the chosen service partner, Unplugged Cities. Unplugged Cities will pay the City $14 per subscriber, and will offer a variety of residential packages ranging from $15 to $35 per month. All data rates are symmetrical, and the monthly fee includes a $5 per month fee to lease a CPE, which is required.

The city is not planning to allocate any funds from departmental budgets toward network financing at this point. It is expected that if the network goes citywide, some existing costs can be offset and some efficiencies will be gained. But at this point the city is making no attempt to justify it based on municipal applications.

Throughout the process, Saint Louis Park has set a very high standard for transparency. All documents related to the project, from the results of initial surveys to the evaluation of the pilot project, are available on the City’s web site, www.stlouispark.org.

For more information:

• City of Saint Louis Park ParkWiFi Project History
• ParkWiFi - the official site for Saint Louis Park's citywide wireless network
• Government Technology's Digital Communities - "St. Louis Park, Minn. Approves Solar Powered Wireless"