MetroFi to Sell its Municipal Wi-Fi Networks and/or Shut Down
© Hilmartj
MetroFi has announced that's planning to sell its municipal networks – or simply shut them down if nobody wants to buy them.
"MetroFi's chief Chuck Haas emailed me this evening with the news that his firm has decided that they will sell their networks in nine cities, including their first cities in the Bay Area (Cupertino, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale), and their largest muni deployment in Portland, Oregon," writes Wi-Fi Networking News' Glenn Fleishman.
Even without MetroFi's demise, Fleishman says, the muni Wi-Fi model is in trouble. "The near-future certainty now is that there will be multiple providers offering wired broadband speed service starting later this year with Sprint/Clearwire's WiMax, and continuing through into 2012 with significant network buildout by Verizon and AT&T in several bands (including their new 700 MHz holdings)," he writes.
"MetroFi is the latest service provider to exit the municipal wireless business," notes MuniWireless' Esme Vos. "EarthLink has decided to shut down its network in Philadelphia and to stop the rollout of its network in Houston; Kite Networks, which had deployments in a number of municipalities, has gone bankrupt."
More here from GigaOM … more here from BetaNews … more here from the Oregonian … and more here from the Portland Business Journal.
The-Know said:
May 17, 08 at 4:30 amThere are municipal networks that work quite well today. These networks are not based on the business models of MetroFi and Earthlink. There are other business models that have worked well. For public safety and other strategic initiatives these municipal networks serve critical needs. WiFi is a required component due to end-user compatibility today, higher bandwidth delivered to concentrated areas via WiFi etc.
MetroFi’s concept should have failed before it even started. The advertising model was dead years and years ago, but MetroFi’s plan was to “stick it’ to the cities after the network was built, requiring the city to make higher payments or the network would be shutdown.
It’s providers like MetroFi with they’re bad business model that has helped to screw up the municipal wifi market. The Earthlink business model for philadelphia was certainly different than MetroFi, but Earthlinks equipment choice cost five to ten times more in terms of equipment and required three to five times in terms of operational costs related to the networ backhaul.
Oh and… the idea that WiMAX is fill everyones needs is rediculous.