Wi-fi cities

A BBC article Wi-fi cities spark hotspot debate talks about US cities which are planning to offer low-cost or even free wi-fi services to their citizens just like other utilities such as water or electricity – but big business is ganging up to prevent this threat to existing telecoms businesses. I like the notion of providing free access to low-income households (currently often excluded), to support new businesses, etc, but surely the major telecoms corporations will try to offer competing broadband solutions that offer higher bandwidth but at a cost – effectively maintaining a technology gap between rich and poor.