Carol Ellison of MuniWireless reports Long Island’s planned $105 million, 750 square mile wireless network is going nowhere.
E-Path, a Tampa-based company, was selected by the counties last August. They promised free access and planned to offset its costs through advertising and anchor tenant sponsorships, but failed to attract either. It doesn’t have the funding to build the system.
Nassau and Suffolk counties wanted to build a locked-down network for police, fire and emergency responders. But Nassau and Suffolk didn’t want to pay for it and the Long Island Power Authority has not granted E-Path access to install antennas on its utility poles.
Now, with Cablevision touting 1.2 million Internet subscribers and Verizon adding subscribers as part of its FiOS rollout, it’s not clear there’s a real demand for E-Path’s services.
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