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May 15, 2008

Yesterday, EarthLink has announced that it is cancelling for good its municipal Wi-Fi project in Philadelphia.

EarthLink also added that it will help some of its customers move to another service provider over the next month or so.

The Internet service provider said that it has negotiated with the City of Philadelphia and a non-profit partner organization in trying to come up with a solution to transfer the $17 million Wi-Fi network to either the city or Wireless Philadelphia, a non-profit partner organization.

EarthLink commented that the deal was “unraveled due to several unresolved issues.”

Philadelphia is the latest municipal Wi-Fi project that EarthLink has cancelled, citing escalating costs and a challenging business model.

In a written statement, Wireless Philadelphia said that it's still looking for a way to preserve the network, if it can salvage it. “We remain optimistic for an orderly resolution of this matter,” CEO Greg Goldman said.

Rolla Huff, EarthLink's chairman and CEO added “EarthLink has worked diligently for many months to transfer our Wi-Fi network to a new owner and at no cost.”

“Unfortunately, our hope that we could transfer our network to a non-profit organization won't not soon be realized. Our only responsible alternative now is to remove our network at our cost and assist our Wi-Fi customers with alternative ways to access the Internet,” added Huff.

EarthLink currently serves about 5,000 customers in Philadelphia, PA.

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Source: EarthLink.