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Andrew Colley and Imre Salusinszky | May 02, 2008
YET another high-profile public project has collapsed in NSW, with the Iemma Government announcing it has abandoned the creation of a free wireless broadband network in Sydney's CBD.
Amid considerable fanfare in November 2006, the Government called on wireless internet providers to submit preliminary proposals for the project by early last year. The free WiFi network would have covered the Sydney CBD and equivalent areas in Parramatta, Liverpool, Penrith, Newcastle, Wollongong and Gosford.
The successful bidder was expected to be given access to government-owned buildings, traffic lights and water tanks to install WiFi hotspots.
The Australian revealed in February that the project was more than a year behind schedule, and late yesterday NSW Commerce Minister Eric Roozendaal said it was not feasible to continue with the project, which the Government had hoped to deliver at no cost to taxpayers.
Mr Roozendaal said his department advised that, in the US, WiFi schemes in Chicago, Houston and San Francisco had either been scrapped or were being bailed out by taxpayers because they had failed commercially.
"What's clear ... is that the market believes the delivery of free wireless broadband is not practical for the Government at this current time based on technical and financial grounds," Mr Roozendaal said.
"Most schemes sponsored by overseas governments have collapsed and require further funding to the tune of tens of millions of dollars," he said.
"With technology changing so quickly, I cannot expose NSW taxpayers to that sort of risk."
He said the popularity of Blackberrys and similar handheld devices was already challenging the use of WiFi for portable computers.
Wireless consultant Jonathan Withers said he was not surprised at the project's collapse, given the absence of a "definable business case" for a free service relying on advertising revenue.
"WiFi seemed to be the flavour of the month at the time, and they thought: 'With APEC coming up, wouldn't it be a good idea to show how advanced we are?"' Mr Withers said.
NSW Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell said the junking of the project showed "this is a government that's locked into the Stone Age while the community's gone WiFi".
The collapse of the WiFi project follows the abandonment in January of Tcard, a $370million integrated public transport ticketing system for Sydney. |