As DailyWireless reported this summer, AT&T and MetroFi submitted a bid for a citywide WiFi network in Riverside, Calif (pop. 300,000, 86 square miles).
They got it, reports Katie Fehrenbacher of GigOm.
Currently, Riverside’s Wireless Mall provides free WiFi to the Main Street Pedestrian Mall (map). The RFP was sponsored by SmartRiverside, a 501(c)3, which will operate the Digital Divide Program and serve as a High Technology Economic Development attraction. Fehrenbacher adds:
CEO Chuck Haas even told us yesterday that the company quietly raised a series B round of $6 million in funding from the Sevin Rosen Fund and August Capital in June to bring the company’s total funding to $15 million (the website still says $9 million series A).
Haas says that the Portland network is on track and will be live for residents by the holiday season. Haas also said that the dissolving of the latest Sevin Rosen Fund won’t affect MetroFi because the company raised money from an earlier fund, and will still be able to raise money left in earlier funds.
He said in addition to the recent funding in June, the company plans to raise money sometime next year.
Portland’s $20 million city-wide WiFi cloud is being built by MetroFi.
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The cylindrical SkyPilot antennas feature a 400 mW WiFi hotspot with a switchable 5.8 GHz backhaul. Related DailyWireless articles include; MetroFi Backers Confident, Portland MetroFi Antennas and Portland’s $20 million city-wide WiFi cloud.
