Philadelphia Revives Citywide Wi-Fi Project

By Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Philadelphia revived an effort on Tuesdayto provide free citywide wireless Internet access in a project to berun by a new group of investors.

The city aims to provide free-of-charge outdoor Web accessthroughout its 135 square miles, which would be the largest areacovered by public Wi-fi of any U.S. city.

The project, initially launched in 2005, came close to failure whenEarthLink, the company that installed wireless transmitters on lightpoles, abandoned the effort in May amid complaints about signalweakness.

In a city of 1.4 million, about 6,000 people signed up for the EarthLink service.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said the city — which isproviding no public money for the Wi-fi project — believed it wasimportant to revive the project because of the economic opportunitiesthat can flow from increased Internet access.

"We now have the potential to reach more people with this network than in any other city in America," he said.

The network, which is about 80 percent complete, will now be takenover by Network Acquisition Company LLC, a new company of localinvestors that will assess the infrastructure and plans to complete thewireless coverage. Service for current users should be uninterrupted,officials said.

EarthLink had difficulty beaming the signal into homes, which CityCouncilman Bill Green cited as a reason the EarthLink model failed. Buthe also praised EarthLink for helping to save the network.

Under the new system, people can buy a $200 device called a repeater to bring the signal inside buildings.

The new owners plan to underwrite the cost of public Wi-fi

by persuading businesses to buy technology allowing employees to access corporate networks from remote locations.

Revenue from corporate customers would pay for infrastructure todistribute a wireless signal to outdoor areas throughout the city,notably to low-income areas where many residents don’t have theInternet access that could improve their ability to find jobs or accesspublic services.

Officials from the new company declined to say how much they hadpaid for the EarthLink asset, how much they plan to invest or when thenetwork would be complete. Co-founder Mark Rupp said it would take"months" to assess what work needs to be done to complete the network.

(Editing by Daniel Trotta)