Houston Democrats

Mayor White hopes to bridge digital divide by making the internet accessible to more citizens at an affordable price or no cost to people like students. The new service will provide competition in broadband.   City services will be able to take advantage, others with large service fleets. WiFi will be an attractive alternative to radio service.

This is part of the infrastructure, that includes fiber, cable TV and roads.  The best place for broadcast modules is city property using our utility rights of way and traffic system.

How long will the main provider have an exclusive contract?
Universal coverage will require a firm to operate the system and is responsible for capital expenditures. The initial contract will be for 5 – 10 years.

What are the guidelines for evaluating contracts?
Criteria have been developed for evaluating contracts – including financial capability, operating capability, public service,  public access, municipal services.

Projections for % market penetration in first year? Current mobile users switched over?
Part of the market risk is that there is no existing model for a large city. Some of the projects are just projections. Preliminary numbers indicate the provider will need 10 – 15% market penetration to get a return on their investment. Proposals will submit 10-15 year projected revenues vs. expense.

Emulate or avoid similar experience to other cities?
We would like to avoid something where you depart from the open architecture concept. Business model using public property as an inducement appears valid – Philadelphia and San Francisco models are examples.

Are their requirements to maintain net neutrality?
There is a neutrality provision – see http://www.houstontx.gov/it/wirelessrfp.html for the request for proposals for security, universality, neutrality, etc. requirements.

Provisions for quality of service guarantees? Scalability?
The number of access nodes is about 18,000. Public safety won’t come online initially and performance and capacity issues will be reviewed regularly.

Non-performance provisions?
Non-performance provisions would provide for default of assets to the City of Houston. Business users who wish to participate may opt to add bay stations on corporate property in order to ensure that the system meets their functional criteria.

Will the WiFi be available to tourists?
Approximately 5% of the implementation will provide for free use in facilities such as libraries, major parks and multi-service centers. Potentially there could be free access in low-income areas. Convention facilities and entertainment facilities are considering how they will wish to participate.

To bridge the digital divide, will PC’s be offered to low income users?
A number of nonprofits are working in this area. For instance one is providing PCs for schools and libraries. A business consortium is providing PCs and software to schools.

Mayor White’s Final comment
Citizens should be aware and involved in this process. We may be fighting special interests whose commercial positions are jeopardized by this effort. The public needs to show support for wireless high quality mobile internet access.

What is the timeframe?
There is a danger of locking into future obsolete standards.  Expect hardware to have a 5 year life followed by a refresh program. The chosen proposal will be scalable and adaptable to new technology. It is estimated to take about 2 years to roll out over a 640 square mile area.

Who was invited to bid?
65 firms attended presubmission conference, including SBC and Time Warner. The selected partner will have the right to build services out to other jurisdictions such as metro.

Where will the mayor be for Wednesday’s chat?
If we have good weather, Mayor White will be outside of City Hall by the reflecting pool with a laptop.  Otherwise he will participate from City Hall lobby.

What is the potential impact on traffic signal coordination?
City wide WiFi has to potential lead to enhanced traffic signal coordination in a very cost effective manner.

Will we know who submitted proposals?
Sometime this week we the list entities submitting proposals should be made public.