FLINT – Wireless Genesee, a program initiated by the Genesee County Board of Commissioners and the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce, is keeping pace with its fast track work plan. More than 100 downloads of the RFP were made before the May 23 deadline. GLIMAEast, a major player in the project.
Launched in February, Wireless Genesee is modeled after a similar program in Oakland County. Both programs call for the creation of county-wide wireless Internet systems that provide no cost basic Internet access for every citizen, business and visitor. A copy of the RFP and other information about Wireless Genesee can be found at WirelessGenesee.Org
?We held a private sector information meeting in April to give interested parties an overview of the project,? said Jimmy King, Project Manager. ?Nearly 30 companies and organizations were represented at the meeting. Our RFP was issued on May 10 and the mandatory pre-bid meeting was held May 23.?
Wireless networks are sprouting up across the country as communities attempt to make their cities more attractive to residents and businesses. Few businesses attempt to build networks as large as the planned Wireless Genesee system because of the expense of building towers and placing transmitters.
?Our program is different,? said King, ?because we are offering private businesses access to public assets on which they can hang transmitters in return for county-wide free service.? A public asset is any publicly owned structure over 15 feet tall. Using such structures would save the provider millions of dollars in construction costs.
?We will have responses to the RFP in July and anticipate selecting a vendor in early September,? King said.
The Wireless Genesee project also requested that communities in Genesee County submit applications to become ?pilot communities? in which new system could rolled out and tested. To date eight communities have submitted formal applications. If all goes well pilot communities will start coming online in the first quarter of 2007.
