Philadelphia Phoenix

It what has to be a positive development the Philadelphia Muni WiFi effort has been rescued by a series of overlapping events.

Philadelphia, June 17, 2008 – Today, Mayor Michael A. Nutter and Wireless Philadelphia have reached an agreement with a local investor group to take over operations for Philadelphia’s Wireless Initiative. Under the terms of the deal, the local investor group is assuming operation of the existing EarthLink infrastructure and will enhance and expand the network as part of their plan to eventually bring free wireless to the City. Philadelphia is excited about this opportunity to become the first major city in America to provide wireless access to all of its citizens at no cost.

The deal to revive the Wireless Philadelphia Initiative came together quickly, thanks to the commitment and hard work of City Councilman Bill Green, EarthLink, the Mayor’s Office, the Law Department, MOIS and the Managing Director’s Office. The Mayor’s Office also contracted with a local, independent consultant to analyze the merits of the deal and ensure that it was structured correctly to meet the ultimate goal of digital inclusion.

“This network is a valuable asset to this City and I thank everyone involved for their hard work to preserve it,” said Mayor Nutter. “I am so pleased that my Office was able to partner with non-profit, for-profit and community groups to get this deal done. This is an important first step to reducing the digital divide.”

There is a transition period, during which the local investor group will assess the current state of the network and create a plan and timeline to bring the network up to specification. During this time, service will continue to current digital inclusion customers subject to interruptions for network upgrades. The local investor group will fund citywide free wireless by providing integrated wired/wireless telecommunications services for large customers such as hospitals, universities and wireless extensions as well as moving to an advertising based revenue model.

Will this change in ownership save the day? Has a better chance than the Earthlink deal as the focus is local. With Earthlink out of the picture the proper community involvement can occur.

Linky.
HT: RCR