The Wall Street Journal says what’s been rumored is true – Philadelphia will announce that it has chosen EarthLink to provide citywide wireless high-speed Internet access.
In the Wireless Philadelphia program, the high-speed service will be available for free in parks and other public places. To get wireless broadband at home, low-income families in the city will be charged $10 a month, while all other households will be charged $20 a month.
Philadelphia earlier had narrowed its choices to EarthLink and Hewlett-Packard Co. EarthLink was chosen because it will share revenue with Wireless Philadelphia, a nonprofit organization working with the city to promote broadband access, said Dianah Neff, a city spokeswoman.
Earthlink will include a revenue share with the Wireless Philadelphia nonprofit organization, saving anywhere from $10 to $15 million dollars according to the Associated Press. Wireless Philadelphia’s plan is to contract with one partner, Earthlink, to build the network and then lease portions of it to competitive Internet service providers.
Meanwhile, San Francisco said 24 companies responded to its call for suggestions on how to set up public access throughout the city. Muniwireless has the complete list.
The two biggest broadband providers to the city — Comcast and SBC — were confident that Google’s proposal to give wireless Internet access to San Franciscans for free was no substitute for what they could offer. SBC provides Internet access jointly with Yahoo. “We’re comfortable that SBC-Yahoo is an industry leader that provides not just access but all this premium content, reliability and value,” said SBC spokesman John Britton. “This new competitor really hasn’t had us change our business plan,” he said. “We think people are going to look for speed. Hands down, we’re the winner.”
UPDATE: According to Earthlink’s press release:
EarthLink will implement a 135-square-mile, city-wide Wi-Fi mesh network, which is expected to be fully operational by the fourth quarter of 2006. The network is intended to provide:
- Inexpensive, high-speed Internet access;
- Open access for multiple, competing service providers;
- Roaming capabilities for providers of hot spot access;
- Free Internet access in some parks and public spaces;
- Daily and weekly access for occasional users and visitors;
- Small business connectivity and serve as a wireless T-1 alternative.
Under the terms of the proposal, no City or taxpayer dollars will be used to fund the project. EarthLink will finance, build and manage the wireless network, and provide Wireless Philadelphia with revenue sharing fees to help support the Wireless Philadelphia Non-Profit Corporation.
The Philadelphia Business Journal reports Wireless Philadelphia expects to have a definitive contract in place with Earthlink within 60 days, and needs city council approval to mount between 3,500 and 4,000 devices on city telephone poles to operate the wireless network. Wireless Philadelphia is negotiating a 7- to 10-year contract with Earthlink, but nothing is finalized, Neff said.
The total cost of deploying, operating and maintaining the network had been estimated at between $15 million and $18 million, of which $10 million was for infrastructure.
