Springs buys Wi-Fi networks for $10

The city of Colorado Springs has acquired Wi-Fi networks in downtown and near Chapel Hills Mall after SkyTel Corp. agreed to sell them for $10.

The Mississippi-based company sold the networks, which include about 40 Wi-Fi transmitters, to the city for that price rather than pay the cost of removing them from streetlights, said André Sodbinow, who manages the city’s information technology office.

“The price was too good to pass up,” Sodbinow told members of the city’s Telecommunications Policy Advisory Committee on Tuesday. The group earlier sought interest in a citywide network but dropped the project amid concerns whether such networks are commercially viable.

The city is barred by state law from selling Internet access on the network to the public and plans to instead use it to test various applications, such as full-motion video and accessing warrants by police and other city agencies, Sodbinow said.

The deal didn’t include leases SkyTel had negotiated to connect the Wi-Fi networks to the Internet, which the city didn’t need, Sodbinow said. Both networks are adjacent to or overlap smaller wireless networks in operation at two police substations.

SkyTel built the networks in early 2006 as a test site for Wi-Fi service but shut down July 31 after failing to gain enough customers to be profitable. The company shut down another test site in Lexington, Ky., in May and sold that network to the city of Lexington for $10.

SkyTel wanted to unload the network because its lease on streetlight poles with Colorado Springs Utilities was set to renew Oct. 1. The city has assumed the lease, Sodbinow said.

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