Even as municipal Wi-Fi has floundered nationwide, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer unveiled a plan to bring affordable broadband to the entire state. The plan would beef up the state’s economy, especially in long-depressed upstate New York, the governor said.
“It is as critical to the next-century economy as the Erie Canal was the last,” Spitzer said. “It is how information flows, and we are living in an economy where information is the commodity that matters and it is necessary that everyone is wired.”
When the average kid in South Korea has better access to broadband than the average kid in New York State, he said, “something is wrong.”
‘No Longer a Luxury’
Taking a long-term approach to the issue, Spitzer appointed a panel, the New York State Council for Universal Broadband, to recommend ways to extend broadband connections to remote and underserved areas. The state’s chief information officer, Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, will lead the council, Spitzer announced.
“Internet access is no longer a luxury,” Spitzer said. “We must implement a strategy that leads to every New Yorker having access to affordable, high-speed Internet so that they make take advantage of the economic, social and cultural opportunities it provides.”
Spitzer’s initiative shows that there is a new emphasis at the state level to support broadband deployment, but the dynamic is much healthier than the municipal Wi-Fi hype that exploded in 2006 and 2007, Craig Settles, a consultant to governments regarding mobile and wireless networks, said in a telephone interview.
“In rural areas and many small towns, providing access is something government should be involved in,” he said, adding that, unlike with municipal Wi-Fi, residents probably don’t necessarily expect it to be free.
Settles worked with local governments in rural North Carolina and Kentucky, where it was not economically feasible for the incumbent provider to come in. “In…