Public Wi-Fi in Philadelphia gets public scrutiny
From the start, Philadelphia has been both cursed and blessed with the scrutiny that comes with having had the first major deployment of a municipal Wi-Fi network. Wireless Philadelphia, the not-for-profit group heading the effort, found itself back in the hot seat today as critics on all sides lined up to assess its performance. From the start, Philadelphia has been both cursed and blessed with the scrutiny that comes with having had the first major deployment of a municipal Wi-Fi network. Wireless Philadelphia, the not-for-profit group heading the effort, found itself back in the hot seat today as critics on all sides lined up to assess its performance.
A city council hearing in Philadelphia to assess the performance of Wireless Philadelphia is happening even as I write so details that are sketchy now should be clearer by tomorrow. Here’s what is taking place.
1. Joshua Breitbart, vice president of the Ethos Group, consulting firm that advises municipalities on broadband development, published a report on Wireless Philadelphia with the New America Foundation that was critical of the group’s private ties to EarthLink. The Ethos Group announced it would distribute the report at a public meeting it planned to hold today.
2. The Philadelphia city council, which has been making noise for some time about holding a hearing on WP’s performance, got wind of the Ethos Group’s plans and announced it would hold its hearing today in the city council. (The hearing is going on right now.) The Ethos Group then decided to host its event following the council hearing.
3. Wireless Philadelphia has issued responses to both. In a release by Wireless Philadelphia in response to the Ethos Group’s report, WP’s CEO Greg Goldman said “This is a great day for Wireless Philadelphia. On the same day, in the same place, this ambitious public-private initiative to extend Internet access to all neighborhoods will be attacked for being too much government by some and for not being public enough by others. We must be doing something right.”
Since the Ethos Group was not releasing its report, “The Philadelphia Story: Learning from a Municipal Wireless Pioneer,” until the hearing, we’ve not yet seen details but clearly it took the position that a sustainable initiative in Philadelphia should be a city-funded effort. I am eager to see the rationale they present. Certainly, publicly funded models are getting increased attention with the demise of ambitious public-private partnerships following EarthLink’s retreat from the market. Joshua Breitbart, vice president of the group and author of the report, said on his blog today that it would be posted immediately after the hearing.
Wireless Philadelphia is using the occasion to highlight its accomplishments, highlighting the 30 community partnerships it has formed and the more-than-30 funding sources that are contributing to its operation.According to a separate statement on its successes, the network is about 75 percent complete, making it “the largest municipal Wi-Fi deployment in the U.S.” It also describes its 10-year contract with EarthLink as “strong” and expresses confidence in its continued operation.
We’ll have more on all of the comments as the news continues to break. Meantime, click here to read Wireless Philadelphia’s response to the Ethos Group’s report and click here to read Josh Breitbart’s comments today on his Ethos Group blog.
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Hi Carol,
Some quick clarifications on what you’ve reported thus far:
The New America Foundation (www.newamerica.net) and Media Mobilizing Project (www.mediamobilizing.org) have been the lead organizers of the event we hosted yesterday in Philadelphia (not the Ethos Group). The report was a collaboration among New America Foundation, The Ethos Group (www.ethoswireless.com) and the Center for International Media Action (www.mediaactioncenter.org) and the New America Foundation is the lead organization, not Ethos.
Our event was scheduled well ahead of the announcement by the City Council that they would hold a public hearing (not vice-versa). Councilmember Rizzo invited us to move our event from the Philadelphia Ethical Society (where it was originally scheduled) to the City Hall council chambers, an invitation we accepted.
Contrary to Greg Goldman’s assertions and the Wireless Philadelphia press release, the report does not advocate for _public ownership_ of the Philadelphia Wireless Project. In fact, the report concludes that the City of Philadelphia may have been better served by following a _non-profit ownership_ (NGO) model as was originally proposed and supported by the local community (and has been proposed in Boston).
We did release the report ahead of time (though embargoed) to key stakeholders (including Wireless Philadelphia) and interested press — feel free to contact me directly if you’re ever interested an advanced copy of New America’s research. Meanwhile, you can download a copy of the report at:
http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/philadelphia_story
–Sascha Meinrath
Research Director
Wireless Future Program
New America Foundation