Local Government Solutions Forum Wireless Prague Project – challenges and problems Name JAROSLAV SOLC Date March Barcelona 2007

Broadband in cities Challenges and impacts –Knowledge society development, growth and eployment (EC), competitiveness, effective e-government, new services … Barriers and obstacles –Money, awareness, comp. literacy, content, security … –Telcos: complaints for market distortion –EU: State Aid EUROCITIES: eRigts Charter, Broadband Manifesto FTTx ? Wireless (combination, mobility, time and costs)

Prague, Czech Republic Population 1.16 mil. inhabitants (CZ Rep. – 10 mil.) Area 496 km2 Administration - 1 of 14 regions of the Czech Rep. - municipality (capital, statutory city) Internal structure: 57 districts - elected bodies, authorities - 22 of them special role (state adm.) City districts: –authonomy in IT, diff. services and responsibilities, dif. systems, low interoperability –ICT infrastructure MePNet (fibre optics Organizations established by the City –Data producer/user, services (urban planning, transportation, tourism) eStrategy „Towards e-Prague 2010“, approved 2005

Broadband in CZ BB access in EU, households, 2006: Denmark, Netherlands (29%), Finland (25%), Belgium, Sweden (20%) …EU 25 (14.8%) …. Czech Rep. (8.4%, 17th)

WiFi situation CZ: –2003 approx. 65% broadband done via WiFi 2006 still approx 40% lines rely on WiFi –Reasons: high prices of connectivity –Czech Republic is #1 in number of households connected through unlicensed wireless line Prague: –Private WLAN operators: 4 Large (reach 40%+ Prague Metro area), ca 15 Middle sized (around 15 AP in Prague area), more than 30 Small and neighborhood networks –Initiatives of City Districts Prague 5 (pioneer, Free Internet, low end), since 2005, now 13 thous registered users Prague 13, Prague 8, Prague 9 Local/Regional Govs encouraged in BB/WiFi projects by state/EU funding opportunities Private telcos and local WiFi providers started complaints (National Office for Protection of Competition – UOHS, European Commission) based on State Aid EU rules

Wireless Prague - city project Reasons – integrated approach, e-government, mobility, internal services,..... SPD2 programme (Structural funding) Pilot: –1/3 of the City area, –171 distribution points on fibre backbone, schools and administration buildings –another 409 hotspots, altogether 580 AP, –WiFi mesh (DSL, CDMA, GPRS... not suitable for planned services, 2 Mb/CCTV)

Wireless Prague – development, content 2006: project, application, tender, contract + complaints and discussions (UOHS, EC, telcos - continue) Implemention I/2007 – III/2008 (15 months), first 30 AP April 2007 Costs: CAPEX: ca 3 mil. EUR, OPEX: ca 6.5 mil. EUR in 5 years, incl. backbone connectivity, network maintenance Phase 1 – free public access to non-commercial eGov services, internet for schools and city admin. buildings, start of new mobile services (city extranet, wifi zones, street level) Phase 2 – opening the network, partnerships with private operators and their services (planned but stopped due to complaints, UOHS/EC – competition, commitment to discuss and notify to EC) Prague project is for EC/DG Competition first case of Metro WiFi (not yet closed).

Wireless Prague project – public info (most in CZ)

Inspiration OULU WiFi, city+university, funded by EU (ERDF), panOULU, digital inclusion, Stockholm Challenge Award 2006 Partner in Wireless Cities project (Interreg IIIC) with BOLOGNA, STUTTGART, SAN SEBASTIAN....Poland TURIN start 2006, city + AEM (utility), EKSF-TC conf. X/06, federal concept, free for seniors PARIS WiFi for citizens and tourists, city buildings, lampspots, newsstands (400 hotspots next year), plan 80% of citiesens ultraBB access (fibre) by 2010 BRUSSELS partnership with Ozone, 64 kb/s for free, 4 Mb/s 20 EUR monthly

Inspiration...2 UK: BIRMINGHAM, CARDIFF, EDINBURGH, LEEDS, LIVERPOOL, WESTMINSTER … WiFi, parnership with Brtitish Telecom, Intel (PPP), 12 cities in 2007 JERUSALEM project Uniwire Jerusalem, free acces for citizens, other services (tourism, emergency services, video..) AMSTERDAM city + The Cloud partnerhip (open network model) CEE: MOSCOW, TALLINN, Slovakia.... USA: San Francisco, Philadelphia (FAQ), Corpus Cristi, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and many others, other cases presented at Wireless Cities Conference (Cannes, 29 Nov-1 Dec 2006), ww.wirelesscitiescongress.eu

Inspiration...3 WiFi zones AmsterdamNorfolk (UK) Moscow Estonia

Problems, risks Positions of existing telcom/WiFi operators – intention to stop the project 1.Big players associated in APVTS (complaint to the EC DG Competition), State Aid (business) 2.Local WiFi providers (complaint to UOHS – national competition authority), RF interferences 2,4 GHz –ad 1 State aid can be problem for other cities strarting/planning wireless projects –ad 2 RF interferences rather specific for Prague (CZ)

Generalisation EC Different interests –DG Info Soc and Media – i2010, Lisbon str., –DG Regio – Structural policy, use of ERDF, ESF –DG Competition – State Aid, market distortion BB projects and public support –DG Compet – white (0) /grey (1) / black (>1) areas –Cities and some regions, often different situation, leadership, innovative services, competitiveness –DG Compet – over 20 cases, notification or complaint Solution? Awareness and cooperation of LR Govs Support by interested parties Guidelines (feasible models, PPPs) Communication !!!

Contact Jaroslav Solc City of Prague, Prague City Hall (IT Department, strategic development) Thank you for attention !

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