US cities warned on long-term costs of free wireless

US CITIES WARNED ON LONG-TERM COSTS OF FREE WIRELESS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Kevin Allison]
Municipal wireless experts are urging cities to think twice before rushing to install free wireless networks paid for by advertising amid concerns that they may not be sustainable in the long term. “I think it’s a very dangerous thing for the industry in terms of [cities] jumping on the free bandwagon,” said one consultant involved in wireless projects in San Francisco and other big cities. “These networks need to be financially stable for the long term, and there are still many questions about whether advertising will work.” Experts emphasized that free networks could generate unexpected costs, including the cost of dismantling a network if its business model fails. They also warned that economic development could be thwarted if free networks failed to raise the revenue needed for programmes to provide the poor with computers and other essential tools.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/0336510a-b854-11da-bfc5-0000779e2340.html
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