Network 1 Communications of St. Louis, MO has such a business model. The business (aka O'Fallon Wireless, St. Louis Wireless, Dardenne Prairie Wireless, Cottleville Wireless, St. Paul Wireless, Crestwood Wireless, Florissant Wireless, Brentwood Wireless, and Kirkwood Wireless) is just kicking off late last year. The irony is the company believes people will pay for interior-grade wireless networking being used outdoors to penetrate residential houses. The fastest speed is 6MBPS in the interference-free world. Their customers can get faster speeds for the same pricing from their local telcos or cable providers with speeds that run circles around Network 1 Communication's service. This model is doomed to failure as your article suggests. The company has sunk tons of monies into equipment installed on publicly owned infrastructure to generate profits at the citizens expense. The cities are lured into thinking weak wireless signals as this will provide communications to the police force and other city owned services.

Good point, aklimento.