Geez, the corpse isn't even cold yet on yesterday's election, and the sniping has already begun.
In this case, a note from the investment banking firm Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc. indicates that the big gains for the Democrats in both the House and the Senate will mean that the passage of a bill that calls for deregulation of the telecom/broadband sector may not happen by the end of this year or even next year. The firm says this could affect the ability of municipalities to chart their own course in developing and deploying a WiFi network, either by managing it themselves or with a partner.
Whether you are a blue- or red-stater, this seems remarkably shortsighted. The muni WiFi network momentum keeps growing with each passing day, and it doesn't seem that a bill that will take some time to work its way through Congress is going to make that much of a difference.
Muni Wifi is truly a local issue, and there's no reason to think that these individual cities can't do a better job of determining their own wireless needs than the federal government.
