Wirecutters: State-Run Wi-fi

But competition is increasingly giving way to cooperation. The mutual interest of private enterprise and often cash-strapped governments to provide and sell wireless services is encouraging both camps to experiment with public-private partnerships. "This was the best way to improve access to the Internet for all," says Glenn Strachan, now an independent consultant who, as an IT specialist for the Washington-based Academy for Educational Development, helped funnel $2.5 million of U.S. aid to On.net, an Internet provider based in the Macedonian capital of Skopje. On.net matched the sum and, in September 2005, began offering free wi-fi to 460 schools, along with subsidized services for hospitals, orphanages, libraries and ngos. On.net has also used the infrastructure to start bringing commercial services to the general public.

Birmingham, England, is likewise going the public-private route, turning to British Telecom to help it cover the city with wi-fi service that's due to go live soon. In what is becoming a common arrangement, Birmingham provides access to urban infrastructure such as lampposts on which BT mounts wi-fi transmitters. The city uses the network to give free access to local services, transport information and events listings, while BT sells full Internet access to the public.

Public-private partnerships don't always work out as both sides might wish. Birmingham would like to extend wireless coverage outside the city center, but can't unless BT or some other provider agrees to participate. BT announced plans for 12 "wireless cities" over a year ago, but several have hit delays, in part because getting access to streetlamps can become bogged down in bureaucratic approval. Even Singapore, where the government is relatively authoritarian, has encountered resistance from venues that have refused to install free wi-fi. And some users have balked at tapping free access because registration requires them to submit passport and other personal information. Still, Singapore plans to hit its target of 5,000 wi-fi hot spots by fall.

Elsewhere, the trend looks unstoppable. In Estonia, for instance, technology website operator and wi-fi evangelist Veljo Haamer has helped convince hundreds of cafés and parks to install wi-fi, getting the city of Tallinn involved and bringing in advertisers. He's even helped to put wi-fi on an international bus that runs from Tallinn to Riga in Latvia. Interesting that it's wi-fi and not cellular delivering a lot of the broadband to Estonians on the go. Though tentatively, even Vodafone has started to express more support for WiMAX since Sarin's 3GSM warning. Maybe Catalonia's brashness showed him the way.