San Francisco Picks Companies for Wi-Fi
San Francisco Chooses Google, EarthLink to Blanket City With Free Wireless Internet Service — SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google Inc.'s bid to blanket San Francisco with a free wireless Internet service cleared a major hurdle Wednesday …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google had already made a free San Francisco Wi-Fi offer and later detailed its wireless pitch, but the bid process also exposed obstacles facing the proposal. San Francisco's selection of Google and EarthLink moves the effort from competing plans toward the approvals and execution required for a citywide service.
First-order effects
- Google and EarthLink become San Francisco's chosen providers for the proposed free wireless service, giving their plan a decisive advantage over rival bids.
- San Francisco ties its public-access initiative to the two companies' ability to clear the obstacles identified during the bidding process.
Second-order effects
- The selection makes delivery and approval milestones the practical test for Google and EarthLink, rather than the appeal of Google's original free-access proposal.
- Other prospective citywide Wi-Fi providers lose the San Francisco opening, while EarthLink gains a role alongside Google in a high-profile municipal deployment.
Third-order effects
- If other cities pursue similar arrangements, municipal Wi-Fi competition will increasingly be decided through public procurement and implementation capacity, not simply consumer-facing service promises.
The trend: Citywide wireless access is becoming a public-private infrastructure contest in which municipal selection is only the first gate to deployment.