Municipal Wi-Fi could be taking a significant step forward today, as New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announces a new citywide Wi-Fi network to be used both for government and public communications.

The use of wireless technology in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast has already opened the eyes of many to the ways that fixed wireless technologies of multiple types can be used in emergencies such as natural disasters to quickly restore voice and data communications. As New Orleans joins other cities in using wireless for city government functions--such as public safety, building inspection and permits, and meter reading--the momentum is building for wireless municipal networks.

“The majority of cities that are building networks today are looking at wireless, not at a full fiber optic network,” said Yankee Group Analyst Tara Howard, who tracks municipal RFPs. “It’s cheaper, and it does work.”

In many cases, cities are expecting to use fiber or copper networks for backhaul and transport, she added. But wireless, and particularly wireless mesh networks, hold much greater appeal for access nets.

“In most cases, there is something in place for the backhaul,” she said. “They’ve got something in place--a utility system with a fiber optic ring, for example--and they can mesh out a wireless network from there. Wireless mesh networks with redundancy and self-healing are a viable source for broadband access and communications.”

This isn't good news for incumbent telephone companies, since wireless access could quickly become a cheaper way to provide bandwidth similar to their DSL services. As the Yankee Group noted in a report this summer, wireless networks are a bigger threat to telcos than fiber-optic buildouts.

New Orleans had already built a wireless network, based on Tropos wireless mesh gear, to connect anti-crime surveillance cameras in parts of the city. The new Wi-Fi network, which the city will own and operate initially, is also based on Tropos gear, most of it donated by Tropos and by Intel, which operates a Digital Communities program to encourage cities to use wireless technologies.

Public access will be available at 512 kb/s, at least during the time that New Orleans is in a state of emergency. Louisiana law restricts municipalities from offering wireless service at speeds above 144 kb/s. City officials have said they will work to overturn that restriction.

New Orleans may also turn the operation of the network over to private vendor, under a public-private partnership not unlike that which Philadelphia enacted with Earthlink.

“The public-private partnerships is the better model,” analyst Howard said. “The cities don’t know what they are doing, they just know they need communications. With a smaller community, it is easier to do, but they still need a vendor or a partner to help. Larger cities need partners. [Operating networks] is not something it makes sense for cities to spend their resources doing, especially when there are companies out there, like Earthlink, that are desperately trying to get a network built so they are not [eliminated] from access.”

Many cities are looking at wireless for applications such as public safety, automatic meter reading and more because they can justify the cost of building a wireless network based on the cost savings accrued, and, in many cases, get grants or other funding for the initial buildout from federal agencies, Howard said.