Verizon says it won’t block the rollout of Philadelphia’s citywide Wi-Fi network. James O’Rourke, president of Verizon’s Pennsylvania division, says: Verizon says it won’t block the rollout of Philadelphia’s citywide Wi-Fi network. James O’Rourke, president of Verizon’s Pennsylvania division, says: We have offered the city a guarantee that its proposed Wi-Fi service can be deployed [...]

As more communities adopt Wi-Fi, mesh, and pre-WiMAX technology to provide universal, affordable broadband service to citizens and businesses, incumbent providers increase their state-by-state lobbying efforts to place more restrictions on community involvement. Today, at least fourteen states have passed legislation restricting or prohibiting municipalities from owning, operating, funding, or profiting from broadband services. Many [...]

Dayton, Ohio is seriously thinking of creating a citywide Wi-Fi network. The city will deploy a wireless mesh network over its downtown area (approximately 2.6 square kilometers) and if all goes well, it will put out an RFP in mid-2005 for a citywide network. The downtown hotzone will provide wireless Internet access free of charge [...]

Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, is planning the biggest shake-up in telecoms regulation since it began 100 years ago, reports Techworld. For most of the radio spectrum, users currently hold pre-defined licences to operate specific technologies. Now, Ofcom has decided that market forces can do a better job: by 2010, companies will be able to [...]

I was pleased to see “Telecom Giants Oppose Cities on Web Access”, an article written by Jesse Drucker, appear in the Wall Street Journal today (November 23). The article focuses on the Pennsylvania bill that prohibits municipalities such as Philadelphia from delivering wireless broadband service. It also talks about cable and DSL operators getting legislators [...]

Harold Feld has an excellent analysis of House Bill 30, which was passed by the Pennsylvania Senate, but is awaiting the governor’s signature. He is leaning towards vetoing it because it is *really* not advantageous for the state. Call the Governor and tell him you want him to veto it (if you think it’s a [...]

The municipal utility in Lafayette, Louisiana is going to install fiber to the city’s 55,000 homes and they plan to do it at prices so reasonable that even the town’s poor can afford it, writes David Isenberg in his blog. The municipal utility in Lafayette, Louisiana is going to install fiber to the city’s 55,000 [...]

The FCC announced that it has approved, for the first time, use of a software defined radio device in the US. This new class of equipment allows users to share limited airspace, increases flexibility and reduces interference concerns. The FCC issued a grant to certification to Vanu, a software development company based in Cambridge (Mass.) [...]

That’s the reality these days. In Auburn (Indiana), Cooper-Standard Automotive was going to move 75 high tech jobs (computer programmers and analysts) out of town when the Mayor of Auburn decided that the city had to provide “industrial strength Internet”, writes David Isenberg. The jobs will remain in Auburn. That’s the reality these days. In [...]

Dianah Neff, chief information officer for the city of Philadelphia, posted this comment to my last article about the passage of House Bill 30 prohibiting municipalities from delivering telecoms services. I did not want her comment to be “lost” in the comments section so here it is:Dianah Neff, chief information officer for the city of [...]