RIVERSIDE, Calif.—AT&T Inc. announced plans to build an 80-square mile citywide Wi-Fi network in Riverside, Calif., by early next year. The company said the network is intended for both public and municipal use and stands as the company’s largest Wi-Fi deployment to date.
Riverside’s 300,000 residents will be able to choose from a variety of connectivity options, including free, advertising-supported access that will deliver speeds between 200 and 500 kilobits per second, or a fee-based, 1-megabit-per-second connection, AT&T said.
The company said it will deploy Wi-Fi equipment on city light poles and fixtures, and that it will maintain the network and handle all customer service operations. Interestingly, AT&T also divulged that its Wi-Fi connections in Riverside will feed into the area’s AT&T backbone network infrastructure.
In a press release, AT&T bragged that it is one of the largest providers of Wi-Fi broadband, with hot spots spanning more than 34,000 venues in 80 countries across the globe.
“AT&T is fully committed to delivering new innovations to spread the benefits of broadband as widely as possible,” said Eric Shepcaro, senior vice president of business development. “As operators of one of the nation’s most extensive, powerful and secure Internet Protocol networks, AT&T is uniquely positioned to develop and deliver emerging technologies, like Wi-Fi, to enable users to more easily and conveniently communicate and conduct business.”
Earlier this year, AT&T announced plans to deploy a municipal Wi-Fi network in Springfield, Ill.
AT&T plans to acquire BellSouth Corp. in a $69 billion deal, thereby uniting Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s two parent companies. That AT&T is playing in the municipal Wi-Fi game is notable since Cingular is in the midst of deploying high-speed UMTS/HSDPA wireless technology across its network, with plans to cover most of the nation’s top markets by the end of the year.
Mountain View, Calif.-based MetroFi Networks will work with AT&T to design and build the Riverside Wi-Fi network. In April, MetroFi beat out EarthLink Inc. and VeriLAN to supply Portland, Ore. with a 135-square mile Wi-Fi network.
