About 6 million U.S. households could have public broadband networks within the next five years, according to one study released Monday.
As a result, Boston-based Strategy Analytics reported that municipal broadband will play "only a small role in the rapidly growing U.S. broadband market, with incumbent telecom and cable operators still attracting the vast majority of consumers."
"We expect a lot of consumers will supplement their cable or DSL service with municipal WiFi, however they are not going to rely on it exclusively," said James Penhune, director of the Strategy Analytics broadband media and communications service. "Philadelphia and other large cities have recently announced plans to offer inexpensive WiFi 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."
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
