New Orleans – In an attempt to boost its stalled economy, the hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans is starting the nation’s first free wireless Internet network owned and run by a major city.
Mayor C. Ray Nagin made the announcement at a news conference Tuesday.
Similar projects elsewhere have been stalled by stiff opposition from telephone and cable television companies aimed at discouraging competition from public agencies.
Nagin said the Wi-Fi system started operation Tuesday in the central business district and the French Quarter. It is to be available throughout the city in about a year.
The system uses hardware mounted on street lights to cover the city.
Most of the equipment was donated by three companies: Intel Corp., Tropos Networks and Pronto Networks.
