Efforts by municipalities to deploy metro-scale Wi-Fi coverage have come under fire from critics who claim local governments have no business in the network business. However, one Texas city may become a model for a different approach to muni-Wi-Fi. Corpus Christi is a pilot city for the Digital Cities Initiative, the Intel-backed consortium hoping to boost U.S. broadband by working with cities to build out wireless networks and applications. It's building a citywide wireless network, but it's not focused on providing Internet service.

“Early on, we told people we didn't think we'd be good at [being a service provider],” said Skip Noe, Corpus Christi city manager. “The level of customer service support would be a challenge for us.”

Corpus Christi is talking to SBC Communications and Time Warner as well as other ISPs to find private companies wanting to use its wireless network to provide Internet access.

“We are hoping to conclude our discussions with multiple partners by the end of the year,” Noe said.

In the meantime, what began as an effort to make the city-owned gas utility more efficient has turned into a model for how to use wireless technology to boost productivity. Corpus Christi had explored privatizing its city-owned utilities, Noe said, before looking into an automated meter reading application that used Wi-Fi access to collect information at a central point.

“It wasn't a new approach to meter reading, but using Wi-Fi made it more cost-effective,” he said. “When we looked at this technology and what it meant, we realized all the potential uses it had for improving our utilities.”

That realization led to a restructuring that eliminated 120 jobs and convinced the city council not to continue privatization talks. The city is finishing the first phase of its mesh network with gear supplied by vendor Tropos Networks. It is using its existing fiber as backhaul and will complete the second phase by next summer.

Noe and his team realized the Wi-Fi approach held promise for improving a number of city systems by more effectively connecting mobile workers. Some systems were nearing the end of their life cycle anyway, including a police network that used 800 MHz wireless to connect squad cars. The city uses a Wi-Fi-based car tracking system to make dispatch more efficient and is working with local hospitals to use broadband wireless to connect first responders via video to emergency room doctors. The city also is using the network for city workers who do most of their jobs outside an office building.

“We could justify a big portion of the expense of Wi-Fi on AMR alone,” he said. “We were going to have to make an investment, so why not make an investment in something that has other capabilities as well.”

Corpus Christi has gotten some outside contributions from Intel, SAP and others as part of the Digital Cities Initiative.

Noe hopes the revenue from Internet access service will help the city meet the challenge of keeping the technology up-to-date, including a possible transition to WiMAX.

“At this point, we are not looking at [the wireless network] being a big money-maker,” he said. “We want to make sure we cover the costs of scaling to the private sector opportunity and make sure we maintain the system long term to the state of the technology.”