The city of Philadelphia announced Tuesday that it had selected EarthLink to develop and implement a citywide Wi-Fi network that will stretch over 135 square miles, making it the nation's largest municipal Wi-Fi broadband undertaking to date.
According to Dianah Neff, Philadelphia's chief information officer and Wireless Philadelphia's acting board chair, EarthLink beat out a competing proposal from Hewlett-Packard, the other firm in the running.
Under the terms of the deal with EarthLink, no city or taxpayer dollars will be used to fund the project. In fact, not only will EarthLink finance, build and manage the wireless network, expected to initially cost $10 million, but it will also provide Wireless Philadelphia with revenue sharing fees that can be used to support its non-profit goal of getting computers into low-income households. Currently 55 percent of households in the city have no Internet connection at all -- a statistic that highlights the reality of the digital divide in the city.
"In selecting EarthLink, Wireless Philadelphia moves one step closer to fulfilling its charter to strengthen the City's economy and transform Philadelphia's neighborhoods by providing high-speed, low-cost wireless access throughout the City," said Neff. "The EarthLink partnership is an unprecedented public/private partnership to provide wireless broadband access, as well as new and exciting future products in Philadelphia."
Wireless broadband access is expected to cost residents $20.00 per month. However, certain qualifying Philadelphia residents will be able to get discounted Internet access at approximately $10.00 per month, further assisting the Wireless Philadelphia 'digital inclusion' program.
Signaling a growing interest in getting into the municipal wireless business generally, Earthlink recently formed a municipal wireless division that is taking the lead in formalizing the contract with Philadelphia, after which it will start building the network.
"The two parties have reached agreement on the major business terms of the contract and are working to complete a definitive agreement within the next 60 days," said Donald Berryman, president, EarthLink Municipal Networks in a prepared statement. "Initially, we will construct a 15-square-mile proof of concept area, and upon completion of the testing phase, Wireless Philadelphia and EarthLink will begin building out the remainder of the city's wireless network."
EarthLink expects the Wi-Fi mesh network to be fully operational towards the end of 2006. As well as providing inexpensive, high-speed Internet access, the plan includes provisions for open access for multiple, competing service providers, roaming capabilities for providers of hot spot access, and free Internet access in some parks and public spaces.
Google Enters the Wireless Game
Only days before the Philadelphia announcement, Google Inc. made headlines when it announced its offer to build and provide free citywide Wi-Fi access in San Francisco.
Google was one of 24 responses to San Francisco's Request for Information and Comment (RFI). This invited interested parties from the public, private and non-profit sectors to offer their ideas on how San Francisco can provide a universal, affordable wireless broadband network.
In announcing the RFI, Mayor Newsom highlighted the importance of the initiative as an answer to the digital divide. "As the United States lags behind other nations in equipping our citizens for the global economy," he said, "San Francisco understands that universal, affordable, wireless broadband access is essential to boost our economic, social and educational opportunities."
And he added, "Providing universal, affordable, wireless broadband access is the just first phase of our new TechConnect strategy that will bring the promise of technology to low income and disadvantaged citizens."
In their offer to the city, Google officials proposed to provide anyone in San Francisco with free 300 kilobits per second access anywhere in the city. As well, the company said it would offer wholesale access to other service providers who could provide higher throughput connections to their customers for a subscription.
Other companies that also responded to the RFI include Cingular, EarthLink, Ericsson, and Metro-Fi, the company that unwired Cupertino and Santa Clara, California. None as yet are out of the running. Unlike Google, most are already in the wireless business.
The mayor's staff is now in the process of culling through the 24 proposals, according to Jennifer Petrucione, a communications officer in the mayor's office. "At the moment these are just ideas and we are open to anything," she explained. "This stage really is an idea process. And it turns out that each one of these 24 proposals presents some piece of what we feel would make the perfect wireless network. So what we might end up doing is taking these pieces or ideas and say, who can match this or that? That way we can build our perfect scenario."
Petrucione emphasized that a fundamental goal is that certain segments of the city will pay nothing for Wi-Fi access. "That's baseline. If you can't afford it, you get it for free," she said. "And as you've probably read, Google's already come back with a proposal that says no cost at a graduated level."
Now the mayor's office expects to move ahead with something more solid in the next two months. "The mayor is pretty ambitious, so he'd like it even sooner," Petrucione added.
Read more on this story:
San Francisco Mayor Wants Broadband Internet Access for All City Residents
San Francisco to Hold Meeting on Wireless Initiative
Business Plan for Wireless Philadelphia
Interview with the CIO of the City of Philadelphia
