Soon, New York school districts will start spending the funds from the Smart Schools Bond Act, and absent a clear strategic framework that encourages public-private partnership (i.e. municipalities, school districts and communication vendors working together) the heavy lifting for free Wi-Fi becomes the burden of individual communities.
Today, the largest growth segment of consumers of digital data is children between the ages of 10 to 17. As more innovative educational apps are introduced in schools, expect demand for access to those apps to increase outside of schools ”” distant learning. Hence, the need is greater for free, ubiquitous, Wi-Fi hot spots, as opposed to families relying on cellular wireless data plans, especially in rural and poor urban school districts.
Historical precedence
Municipalities have the authority through a 1984 federal statute to articulate “the needs and interest” of the larger community to Internet service providers, or ISPs ”” the local digital infrastructure providers. More to the point, schools and municipalities already enjoy free public-access cable as a derivative of that statute, as one of the “givebacks” to the community for a municipality”™s cable franchise agreement.
Imagine the combined leverage created when municipalities and school districts are sitting on the same side of the negotiating table, making the case for today”™s equivalent of those services ”” Wi-Fi hot spots.
A changing regulatory environment has helped meet the ever-increasing communication needs of consumers. Take the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which raised the stakes by allowing any communications business to compete in any market against any other and also added Internet service to the mix. The thinking was competition would drive a more diverse set of services and lower costs to the consumers. As a result, Verizon (a former phone company provider) can get a franchise agreement and bring local communities “triple play” ”” phone, Internet and cable. The act also spurred continuous change. Put simply, it ushered more vendor consolidation through acquisition (e.g., Comcast/Time Warner) and an ever-changing range of wireless services (e.g., 3G, 4G, 4G LTE).
On Thursday, after a decade of discourse, the FCC ruled in support of “net neutrality.” That decision further supports a level playing field for all consumers (municipalities and school districts) to access the Internet.
The local strategy
The first conversation should be on the merits of a partnership that includes “the needs and interest of the community.”
After a partnership is formed and a basic set of standards is developed, the next conversation is the negotiation strategy with ISP vendors. Greater clarity from the state in regard to guidance and use of funds in “Prop 3” will help that process. But all team members ought to be on the same page. What will work here, however, is the option for “co-opetition” ”” competitors working together for the “local public interest” with upside potential for each participant. With incentives of matching funds (from Prop 3 to the ISPs, and newly announced state broadband funds of $500 million) the opportunity is to negotiate a compelling proposition for a phased technology infrastructure build-out as a foundation for regional Wi-Fi hot spots and a pathway to faster wireless speeds. If additional competition is warranted to “cut the existing strings,” municipalities ought to open the doors to that, as well.
Benefits
Beyond accommodating education”™s shift toward digital learning, like electricity a century ago, free Wi-Fi and broadband have the propensity to drive economic growth, create jobs and engender a buzzing ecosystem of commerce.
During his State of the Union address Jan. 20, President Barack Obama underscored the importance of broadband: “I intend to protect a free and open Internet, extend its reach to every classroom and every community, and help folks build the fastest networks, so that the next generation of digital innovators and entrepreneurs have the platform to keep reshaping our world,” he said.
With a dearth of leadership from the governor”™s office on the implementation of regional Wi-Fi and broadband, a bottom-up approach is the way forward.
Derickson K. Lawrence is a former director of Gartner Consulting in Stamford, Conn., and chairs the Westchester County Homeowners”™ Coalition. He can be reached at dkl@marketvw.com or at 914-548-0405.
