BOSTON—Despite dozens of announcements about municipal Wi-Fi deployments and feverish hype regarding the growth potential of the industry, incumbent operators have little to fear long-term from the technology, according to a new report by Strategy Analytics.
The firm predicts public broadband networks planned by major cities and smaller municipalities will reach only 6 million U.S. homes, or about 5 percent of all households, in the next five years, and incumbent telecom and cable operators will continue to attract the vast majority of customers as prices for commercial broadband services continue to decline.
“We expect a lot of consumers will supplement their cable or DSL service with municipal Wi-Fi, however they are not going to rely on it exclusively,” said James Penhune, director of Strategy Analytics’ Broadband Media and Communications service. “Philadelphia and other large cities have recently announced plans to offer inexpensive Wi-Fi service, which may be better than dial-up Internet access, but is slow compared to the DSL service that is only slightly more expensive and usually offers better quality.”
