Cities looking at FTTH as muni-WiFi alternative

Some municipalities are looking into fiber to the home (FTTH) as an alternative to muni-WiFi. The Berkeley city council in California voted five-to-one to pursue a feasibility plan that could see the city parter with a private contractor for fiber. Palo Alto is also looking at FTTH. Muni-WiFi may be significantly cheaper, but Berkeley's director of IT said "a successful economic model for running municipal WiFi networks has yet to emerge." If the goal is to bridge the Digital Divide and spur economic development, how can the heavy expense of FTTH accomplish that?

To read more about Berkeley's look at FTTH:
- check out this article [1] from The Register