MuniWireless

Last week Philadelphia announced it hopes to buy the wireless network from a group of local investors who bought it from EarthLink about a year ago. This on the same day the Feds announced the first batch of stimulus grant winners.

As I finish edits to the revision of my 2005 book on broadband strategy that focuses heavily on Philadelphia as a model for effective broadband needs assessment and planning, it warms my heart to be able to bring the Philly…

Last Friday in Paris, the French regulator ARCEP held a press conference to announce that Iliad-Free will be the new mobile operator in France. It has taken five years for the French government to bring a fourth operator market because of strong opposition from the other incumbents, France Télécom-Orange,  SFR and Bouygues.  ARCEP had no other choice because Iliad-Free was the company to respond to the second RFP which was issued on 3 August 2009 (two years after the first…

The Twittersphere is aglow with news reports that the federal government is finally announcing the winners of Round 1 of the broadband stimulus funding. Among the first announcements:

The Biddeford Internet Corporation, a public-private partnership between service providers and the University of Maine, will receive a $25.4 million Recovery Act grant to construct middle-mile infrastructure across rural Maine. Two of the middle-mile infrastructure awards announced today will go to public-private partnerships. One of these awards is a $39.7 million grant to…

A few weeks ago, Swindon (pop. 190,000) announced that it is rolling out citywide Wi-Fi service in partnership with Aqovia and Avity, two private companies that own shares in Digital City UK which will run the network. We have more details about the service. The network cost £1m to deploy and Digital City plans to recoup its investment by selling Wi-Fi access to residents and businesses. Prices: £8 per month for unlimited access at speeds up to 20 Mbps, but…

The city of Philadelphia plans to buy the citywide wireless mesh network for the bargain basement price of $2 million from NAC (Network Acquisition Company), the firm that bought the network from EarthLink, which pulled out of the municipal wireless business in 2008. NAC’s investors include Dave Hanna, Chairman of Tropos Networks, the equipment vendor whose mesh nodes were used by EarthLink for the original project. NAC had never rolled out any kind of detailed plan for the municipal use of network…

The NTIA and RUS have posted the comments to the RFI issued last month seeking public comments on the requirements and processes for the first round of funding. The RFI generated a lot of responses from cities, non-profit organizations, Native American communities, equipment vendors, counties, civil right organizations and more. Go to: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/commentsround2.cfm

Related post:

NTIA, RUS want your feedback on next round of funding (1o Nov 2009, MuniWireless)

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