Wireless plan flawed?

A new report casts doubts on the feasibility of the plan for citywide wireless service in Philadelphia. It's conclusions should be taken with a grain of salt, as the report was prepared by a think tank with ties to cable and telecommunications folks (who would like to keep this business for themselves). However, it does mirror some of my own negative reactions to the recently announced details of the plan, which intends to sublease bandwidth to private suppliers.

Somehow these mixes of public and private enterprise never seem to go as envisioned. However, it could be that the right analogy is to phone or electrical service, where the government invested in a lot of the infrastructure but then let business take over the service; this works as long as the upkeep of the wiring et al. can be managed well by the city. I guess only time will tell...