Earthlink to Build Philadelphia's Wireless Net

Philadelphia's plan to become one giant wireless hotspot inched closer to reality Monday when Wireless Philadelphia tapped Atlanta-based Internet service provider Earthlink to build the network. Even better, Earthlink has agreed to pay for the construction and maintain the network, said the city's chief information officer, Dianah Neff. That's expected to save Wireless Philadelphia about $10 million to $15 million, Neff said. Part of the project's goals is to get 10,000 computers into homes that currently don't have them. From the Washington Post: "Increasingly, city officials view broadband in the 21st century the same way they viewed electricity 100 years ago and telephone service 50 years ago. It's falling into the category of a necessary and essential social service," said Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, a nonprofit group that favors the development of municipal wireless. "Cities see this as a way to spur economic growth: on the one hand to put tools in the hands of the underprivileged and give them a leg up, and on the other to provide incentives to small businesses to locate in these cities and to expand their operations," Scott said. According to Free Press, about 300 municipalities around the country are undertaking broadband experiments, but only a few dozen are doing full-scale networks like Philadelphia's.
[SOURCE: Philadelphia Daily News, AUTHOR: Michael Hinkelman hinkelm@phillynews.com]

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http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20051005/1b_wifi05.art.htm