Wireless Facilities Inc. announced a contract win to provide network design and deployment services for Madison, Wis.’s proposed municipal Wi-Fi network.
The company said it plans to work with communication technology company Cellnet and Madison Gas and Electric to deploy a Wi-Fi network in the downtown area of Madison by March, and eventually extend the network to the entire city by early 2007.
“WFI is uniquely qualified for Madison’s municipal Wi-Fi project,” said Eric DeMarco, president and chief executive of WFI. “We have over a decade of wireless network experience combined with our ability to enable valuable solutions delivered wirelessly such as digital video surveillance, building access controls, automated meter reading, and public-safety applications for first responders. These skills and applications are precisely the combination that municipalities seek, and represent WFI’s ability to leverage the technical experience from across our company to deliver compelling Wi-Fi solutions.”
The announcement is the culmination of a process that began with the release of a joint Request for Proposals in December of 2004 by the City of Madison, Dane County and the State of Wisconsin. The deployment of a municipal Wi-Fi network throughout Madison is part of the “Healthy City” plan introduced by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz to provide Wi-Fi access to residents and to further strengthen the city’s reputation as a highly livable, business-friendly, technologically savvy community.
WFI said the move to provide network infrastructure services for municipalities is an emerging and strategic area of focus for WFI, which recently announced it joined with Google Inc. in a bid to provide Wi-Fi services in San Francisco
“These municipal Wi-Fi projects demonstrate WFI’s vision to diversify our business base and expand into new, untapped areas where we add tremendous value,” said DeMarco.
Further terms of the project were not disclosed.
About 80 miles to the east, in Milwaukee, Wis., another municipal Wi-Fi plan is being devised.
Milwaukee city officials are in talks with Midwest Fiber Networks, a company that designs, develops and implements fiber networks and wireless broadband access. The company has proposed to invest $20 to $25 million in the Wi-Fi network with no costs being passed on to taxpayers.
Midwest Fiber also said it wants to build and manage the network, which the company says it could roll out by early 2007.
