The Chronicle reports today that Mayor Bill White plans to announce a contract proposal for the citywide Wi-Fi network today. Among the details to be announced this afternoon is which company has been selected to build the $60 million network, which will be the largest of its kind in the United States. But in an interview with the Chronicle yesterday, White gave some of the general terms of the deal, including pricing structure.
The mayor said the agreement sets a wholesale price of $12 a month, but that doesn't mean you'll pay $12: The network's operator will sell service to various ISPs, which will add a profit margin and then resell access to customers. White has said he hoped to cut the cost of Internet access in half, but that's kind of a general statement, since there's already such a wide range of prices for high-speed access. Some low-income residents — who could include students and the elderly — will get a rate based on a $10-per-month wholesale rate, White said. And yes, the city will make money off this: Eventually, it will get 3 percent of the revenue from the network, some of which will go back into subsidizing the lower rate for low-income users.
As far as which company will build the network, well, that's still anyone's guess. We learned a little about the two finalists in November: EarthLink Municipal Networks is building municipal Wi-Fi networks in several cities, while competitor Convergent Broadband, a local consortium headed by former Reliant Energy CEO Don Jordan, was created mainly to bid on the Wi-Fi project. White stressed the need for the contractor to have experience in the field, which the Chronicle thinks points to EarthLink. "If it indeed is EarthLink, EarthLink has the track record," Craig Settles, a municipal wireless consultant, told the Chron. "They are a very competent business and provider, and I think that given the size of Houston, this is a good choice."
White said he plans to seek public input on other aspects of the plan, including how to help low-income Houstonians get computers and other necessary hardware so they can use the network. Assuming everything goes as officials plan, the network could be up and running across the city by the spring of 2009.
Update: The Chronicle is now reporting that EarthLink is, indeed, the company chosen to build the city's wireless network.
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I thought I read in the Chronicle that EarthLink was based in Atlanta.
That's right. The Chron had reported that EarthLink Municipal Networks was based in San Francisco, but it's really not. Good catch.