Based on an initiative of the Wireless Internet Institute and CIFAL Atlanta to promote the use of wireless broadband Internet in cities worldwide, the Atlanta government is planning to deploy a wireless network throughout the city.

Abe Kani, chief information officer for the City of Atlanta, announced that the city is actively seeking a public-private partnership to implement a wireless broadband network over Atlanta’s 132 square miles.

Dubbed “Wireless Atlanta,” the network would provide high-speed Internet access anywhere within the city. The city reported that the network would also be used for streamlining government operations.

Better city management via wireless access is a goal the Wireless Internet Institute, a precursor of CIFAL Atlanta, has had for cities around the world as it helps them to set up wireless networks, according to Daniel Aghion, executive director and co-founder of the institute, also called W2i.

Axel Leblois, W2i’s other founder, is also executive director of CIFAL Atlanta. Mr. Aghion and Mr. Leblois founded W2i in 2002 as a think-tank for understanding the opportunities wireless Internet could bring to developing countries for social and economic development.

W2i’s mandate expanded following a United Nations conference in June 2003 on wireless Internet opportunities for developing countries, which representatives from Atlanta, Detroit and New York also attended.

“We wondered, why would these U.S. cities be interested in a conference on Internet applications for developing countries? The unanimous answer was that U.S. cities have a growing and unsustainable urban digital divide,“ Mr. Aghion told GlobalAtlanta in an interview when he was visiting Atlanta last week. He is based in Boston but comes here frequently to collaborate with the W2i team based in the CIFAL Atlanta offices.

Mr. Aghion said that Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin had announced during a speech at the 2002 SuperComm meeting in Atlanta that she would try to close the divide between those in Atlanta who had Internet access and those who did not. She said that Atlanta was going to establish the first citywide Wi-Fi Internet network in the world.

This has not happened yet, but Mr. Kani has been attending W2i events for the past couple of years and has now made the official request for proposal to begin the wireless project, Mr. Aghion noted.

Atlanta follows the lead of Taipei, Taiwan, which has the largest wireless broadband Internet network in the world to date, with 31,000 registered users.

W2i hosted the Digital Cities convention on wireless Internet implementation in Taipei, June 28-30. It was one of six such conferences W2i has already hosted this year, according to Roop Singh, program manager at CIFAL Atlanta who is working on the W2i wireless Internet team.

The next conference is to be held in London, Sept. 25-26.

W2i, working with CIFAL Atlanta, organizes a wireless conference every two months, Mr. Singh said.

“Our goal is to bring the public and private sectors together to foster wireless broadband development,” he told GlobalAtlanta.

“We consider broadband wireless a technological revolution. It’s a leapfrog technology to help countries spur economic growth,” he said. Wireless broadband access is part of the U.N.’s Millenium Goals, he added.

During the Taipei conference, 14 cities signed an agreement to begin implementation of wireless broadband networks. Mr. Aghion said he would like Atlanta to sign it also.

Atlanta’s proposal for Wi-Fi requires that no tax dollars be used to fund the project. Companies interested in applying to participate in the wireless venture can visit the Wireless Atlanta webpage at http://apps.atlantaga.gov/wirelessatlanta/.

For more information, contact Deanna Williams at (404) 330-6306.

For more information on W2i’s programs, visit www.w2i.org or contact Mr. Singh at CIFAL Atlanta at (404) 962-4839.