Title: Assessing municipal wireless network projects: the case of Wi-Fi Philadelphia

Authors: Gang-hoon Kim, Sang M. Lee, Jongheon Kim, Sang-hyun Park

Addresses: Oldfather Hall 511 Department of Political Science, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0419, USA. ' CBA 209 Department of Management, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0491, USA. ' CBA 209 Department of Management, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0491, USA. ' National Information Society Agency (NIA) NIA Bldg, 77, Mugyo-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, 100-775, Korea

Abstract: The City of Philadelphia adopted an ambitious broadband internet plan to provide the city with comprehensive wireless coverage. The decision to adopt this project involved a tradeoff between the benefit of high-speed service to all residents and cost of the project. The project represents breaking a relatively new ground, with few experiences of other government agencies to rely upon for guidance. This paper suggests the use of system dynamics modelling as a means to assess project risk and the result of the model simulation reveals the inherent risk of price manipulation by competitive service providers.

Keywords: broadband networks; e-government; municipal wireless projects; system dynamics; dynamics modelling; project risk; simulation; wifi; electronic government; wireless networks; local government; United States; USA.

DOI: 10.1504/EG.2008.018872

Electronic Government, an International Journal, 2008 Vol.5 No.3, pp.227 - 246

Published online: 21 Jun 2008 *

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