Sacramento is logging out of the wireless Internet game.
The City Council voted Tuesday to terminate a contract with a technology group that planned to blanket the city with a free wireless network.
That tech consortium – Sacramento Metro Connect – was never able to come up with the money to set up the network, according to a city staff report.
City officials said no public money was lost, and that only staff time was spent working on the failed deal, which was originally signed in June 2007.
According to the city staff report recommending the contract be squashed, SMC never submitted a detailed plan for setting up the network and had not started installing the equipment it needed to make Sacramento a Wi-Fi city.
"Ultimately, broadband telecommunications access to all residents and businesses within the city is critical to the economic development and growth of an educated population," said Dean Peckham, the city's economic development senior project manager.
SMC's former business partners – including Intel, IBM and SeaKay – left the project, and SMC "has not provided the city with any level of assurance" that it would come up with the funding it needed, according to the staff report.
Getting the system going would have cost SMC an estimated $15 million, which would have paid for 3,000 transmitters to be placed on utility poles and buildings throughout the city, according to Peckham.
Running the system would not have cost the city anything, Peckham said.
Peckham said SMC planned to raise the money to get the network running through the help of venture capitalists. SMC could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Council members said they explored building a citywide wireless network "to break the digital divide" and provide "the Internet to underserved areas of the city," said Councilman Kevin McCarty.
Councilman Rob Fong, one of the project's early supporters, noted that similar plans in other cities also have failed "as the market changed."
According to the city staff report, city officials began exploring the idea of providing Wi-Fi access to the city three years ago.
During that time, projects in several other cities have collapsed.
In two cities where the networks have worked – Riverside and Oklahoma City – they have been used solely by public safety and code enforcement agencies.
Sacramento officials said they would revisit constructing a citywide wireless network and return within a year with their findings.
"This forces us to go back and evaluate how we address issues of digital inclusion, focusing on those neighborhoods of greatest need and going back to talk with community and neighborhood groups," Peckham said. "We're trying to set the stage for future generations to improve their quality of life."
Call The Bee's Ryan Lillis, (916) 321-1085.
