L.A. mayor wants citywide wireless access

Cardenas expects the council to support the citywide plan, which has been discussed for several years.

"We need it," he said. "I would like to see all L.A. kids grow up advantaged, not disadvantaged."

The city's existing commercial broadband providers -- AT&T Inc., Time Warner Cable and Verizon Communications Inc. -- aren't planning to oppose the city's efforts.

Verizon, which once joined cable giant Comcast Corp. to try to curtail Philadelphia's wireless project, no longer stands in the way of municipalities.

"We urge cities to be cautious investing taxpayer money in such a venture where technology is changing rapidly," said Verizon spokesman Jonathan Davies.

AT&T spokesman H. Gordon Diamond said the company is committed to making broadband affordable and has bid on municipal wireless projects "where it makes business sense to do so."

Time Warner, which has worked on city broadband task forces, doesn't see the Wi-Fi network as competition but rather an extension of its own services, said spokeswoman Patricia Rockenwagner.

The lack of competition among broadband providers has kept prices high and helped create a digital divide, separating those who can afford computers and Internet access from those who can't, Vos said.

That concern, along with help for small businesses and city services, has been driving the municipal wireless efforts nationwide.

But problems crop up. In San Francisco, a proposal by Google Inc. and EarthLink Inc. to set up and run a wireless system has raised a ruckus over whether such a network ought to be built, owned and run by the city.

Google is offering to operate a free, lower-speed broadband service supported by advertising that pops up on users' screens, while partner EarthLink proposes to operate the higher-speed services for which customers pay fees.

On Tuesday, San Francisco's board of supervisors started to look into creating the network as a public utility, potentially stalling approval of Mayor Gavin Newsom's contract with the two companies.

Also, as many cities around L.A. have learned, street light and power poles are essential locations for Wi-Fi antennas. And Southern California Edison isn't letting any city use their poles.

Los Angeles, however, owns the poles and the electric utility that serve the city.

Villaraigosa acknowledged skepticism surrounding a citywide system but said the L.A. Wi-Fi initiative was "not going to be a study to put on the shelf."

james.granelli@latimes.com

tony.barboza@latimes.com