Cities Awaiting Edison Signal on Wireless Networks

CITIES AWAITING EDISON SIGNAL ON WIRELESS NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: James S. Granelli]
As cities across the nation roll out their own wireless Internet networks, some Southern California communities are hitting an unexpected bottleneck: Southern California Edison. The state's second-largest power utility owns many of the residential street lights that cities need to form the backbone of their networks. But Edison acknowledges that it has yet to act on year-old requests for access to its poles and electricity. That has left cities waiting for a signal. Before they can build, though, Edison wants to "understand the technology better," said Douglas H. Kim, general manager of Edison's carrier solutions division. "We are an electric utility and want to make sure, first and foremost, that we provide reliable service." The company wants to test the wireless transmitters -- which draw about two nightlights' worth of power from the pole -- to make sure they are "safe for workers and don't hinder our expansion plans or hurt our infrastructure," he said.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-edison27jul27,1,3749733.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
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