Philly wireless by Barbora Kasparova

The city of Philadelphia's aim to become number one wireless city in the world is facing obstructions. Seems like city official did not choose the right service provider to do the job. In the beginning of 2006 the Mayor of Philadelphia announced the cooperation with Earthlink, Internet service provider headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia."Just as roads and transportation were keys to our past, wireless technology and digital infrastructure are keys to our future", said Mayor Street to the public after the signing of agreements (http://ework.phila.gov/philagov/news/prelease.asp?id=233). That was the "dream", this is the reality: Philadelphia was not the only city Earthlink has signed contract with, in fact it planned that it would build a free wireless networks in 11 other major cities in the U.S. As the company started facing financial problems in 2007, some of the cities have come to stop their projects by now, Houston went as far as fining the Earthlink for not followong by the deadlines. What's the future of the cheesteak city wireless program? Earthlink's promised to continue working on what it has started, however, they're considering "strategic alternative", that is, even if the network is built, Philadelphia will possibly need to find somebody else to run it.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071118/ap_on_hi_te/earthlink_municipal_wireless;_ylt=Akswibdp3Cd81wMcBMEMeqas0NUE

by Barbora Kasparova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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