Over $3 billion To Be Spent On U.S. Public Municipal Wi-Fi
More than $3 billion will be spent over the next four
years to build and operate public wireless networks for U.S.
municipalities, according to MuniWireless.com Annual State
of the Market Report.
As the interest in public wireless is exceeding earlier expectations, spending will exceed $235 million in 2006 – significantly higher earlier forecast of $177 million – according to the research findings. For 2007, spending will reach $460 million, compared to last year’s estimate of $406 million.
Other Key Highlights:
- Public safety, building inspection and public works are the three most prevalent applications for public wireless networks.
- Large cities with population of more than 500,000 currently account for about 33% of all municipal wireless spending, and will grow to 40% by 2009.
- Approximately 44% of all 2006 expenditures will go toward hardware and packaged software products, with the remainder allocated to services such as applications development, training, systems design and integration, and consulting.
In the past year many large U.S. cities have either selected suppliers to begin designing and building municipal networks or have announced firm plans to do so in the near future, including San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; Dayton, Ohio; and Minneapolis. Other big cities like Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Atlanta have issued formal Requests For Proposals, according to MinicipaWireless.com.
