Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua has recently
announced that there will be free Wi-Fi in the Nakuru Central Business District
and its environs, courtesy of the county government. Shortly before that, the
Nairobi Senator Mike Mbuvi had announced the same thing for Nairobi city. In
general terms, the kind of Wi-Fi offered within cities is known as Municipal Wi-Fi
and has been a growing trend globally. Municipal Wi-Fi
is operates on the concept of a Wireless Access zone. It refers to the
converting whole city into a single network such as Wireless Access zone for
making the ultimate access at consistent speed in wide ranges of area. Many
universities and large organization collaborate diversely by organization
municipal Wi-Fi.
The Municipal Wi-Fi projects are aimed at improving Internet access to the general populace and encourage online interaction between the government and the citizens. According to the CCK report of quarter one 2014, the estimated number of Internet users was recorded at 19.1 Million Kenyans which represented 47.1 per cent of the population. This is an improvement over the last few years; however, the rate of Internet penetration requires stimulation to a higher rate if Kenya is to be an ICT hub in the region. Falkland Islands has an amazing penetration rate of 96.6 percent while China has penetration rate of 42.3 percent but their users stand at 568 Million.
The Municipal Wi-Fi projects are aimed at improving Internet access to the general populace and encourage online interaction between the government and the citizens. According to the CCK report of quarter one 2014, the estimated number of Internet users was recorded at 19.1 Million Kenyans which represented 47.1 per cent of the population. This is an improvement over the last few years; however, the rate of Internet penetration requires stimulation to a higher rate if Kenya is to be an ICT hub in the region. Falkland Islands has an amazing penetration rate of 96.6 percent while China has penetration rate of 42.3 percent but their users stand at 568 Million.
Municipal Wi-Fi networks are of great benefits
apart from improving Internet access penetration rates. Areas of applications
for Municipal Wi-Fi networks include automated meter-reading, maintenance and
monitoring, real-time feeds from security cameras, connectivity to police
patrol and emergency response vehicles, access control for facilities and buildings,
intelligent transport systems, ability to telecommute from anywhere, students
can access educational content for e-learning and so on and so forth. Municipal
Wi-Fi not only provide high speed Internet access for free it also lowers
prices, creates competition, and boosts economic development. This allows low
income families, travelers, and city officials to access important information
without budgetary considerations in mind. Some private companies offer free Wi-Fi
and use the infrastructure for advertising and stimulate e-commerce, targeting
certain market such as universities, travelers in airports or train stations,
people at a public park and so on.
There are a few draw backs of Municipal Wi-Fi
that make most countries apprehensive to deploy it. Government monopoly on most
services such as water, electricity, health, rail transport and other services
creates an uncompetitive market that is less lucrative to investors. In the
end, service quality is compromised and the market is held captive of whatever
the government has to offer. The same case applies to Municipal Wi-Fi offers by
government, especially for free. The other major drawback is the fast trend in
which Wireless technologies are evolving, implying that the major Wi-Fi
deployments will quickly become obsolete and render the projects unviable. Faster
Wi-Fi standards such 802.11n have been embedded to modern devices but were not
available a few years back. A major challenge to all government projects is
usually an overpriced or over scoped solution with various parties taking
advantage of the lack of expertise and knowledge in the area in question.
Initial budgets easily escalate unprecedented levels denying other areas of
development the deserved funds. Municipal Wi-Fi may not be as an important area
as health, roads, water and so on. Most citizens would prefer the basic needs
catered for before Internet access.
Recently, there has been a new aspect of
improving Internet access that has threatened to phase out Municipal Wi-Fi.
Municipal broadband via fiber-to-the-home networks are becoming more prominent
due to increased demand for modern audio and video applications, which are
increasing bandwidth requirements by 40% per annum. In Stockholm, the city
owned Stokab provides network infrastructure through dark fiber to several
hundred service providers who provide various alternative services to end
users. Reggefiber in the Netherlands performs a similar role. The Utah
Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency provides service at one network
layer higher through a fiber network. Mobile Service Providers are also rolling
out 4G LTE networks that provide as good speeds as Wi-Fi. In some countries,
service providers have lobbied for legislative measures to limit municipal
broadband to some areas; otherwise they might be out of business. In Kansas US,
municipal broadband is limited to unserved areas, meaning areas with
terrestrial fiber to the homes or other forms of Internet connection.
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