The Philadelphia saga is about to get a whole lot more interesting. Though I've been privy to a lot of the behind-the-scene negotiations, if you're looking for details, you'll have to look elsewhere. However, you won't have to wait long -- the Philadelphia Metro has already started covering things -- which means that someone's already spilling the beans. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News are going to be running stories tomorrow.

All in all, the proposed solution is a really good one for the residents of Philly; but yes, it's caught up on the demand for a $250,000 payment. Meanwhile, Wireless Philadelphia released this statement today...

Dear Friend of Wireless Philadelphia:

I am writing to provide you a brief update on the Wireless
Philadelphia Initiative.

Philadelphia's Wi-Fi network continues to operate in the roughly 80% of the City in which it has been deployed (see map ). Nothing in the ten-year Network Agreement

permits EarthLink to unilaterally impose deadlines for the network's transfer, turn off the network or remove network equipment.

It has been well publicized that EarthLink recently announced its intention to sell its Wi-Fi networks and exit the municipal wireless business. Wireless Philadelphia and the City of Philadelphia continue to work together to explore options for the network's future. In the meantime, we are committed to our core mission of serving Digital Inclusion customers with internet access, hardware, technical support and training.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

Best regards,

Greg Goldman
CEO
Wireless Philadelphia
ggoldman@wirelessphiladelphia.org

In December 2007, the New America Foundation released an in-depth report and analysis of the Philadelphia Wireless project. This New America Foundation report focused on productive interventions and potential opportunities for community organizers and decision-makers, but was met with hostility by Wireless Philadelphia and Civitium.

Now, three months after the report's release, many of the concerns first systematically documented in the report (but raised often by the local Philadelphia community over a several year period) are beginning to grow so much worse that even the best efforts being brought to bare to obfuscate the problems are coming undone.

Joshua Breitbart put it this way in his recent blog posting:

It is now common knowledge that EarthLink has failed to live up to its agreement to build a citywide wireless network for the people of Philadelphia. Fortunately, the Network Agreement gives Wireless Philadelphia various mechanisms to hold the Atlanta-based corporation accountable. For example, WP can declare a “Dark Day” for the system if there is significant outage and compel EarthLink to remedy the situation. Yet WP has not exercised any of these provisions, even though these are clearly dark days for Wireless Philadelphia.

In December, Philadelphia Chief Information Officer Terry Phillis and Wireless Philadelphia Chief Executive Officer went before City Council and assured the members that EarthLink was still hard at work building out the wireless network throughout the city. They promised EarthLink would resolve all of its subscribers’ problems. It is now clear the information they provided was false.

The problem in Philadelphia is that they're in desperate need of leadership in an area where people have been so focused on the potential political minefield that they've been unwilling to make the substantial changes necessary to fix things. As more information begins to come out about the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of tax payer dollars that were spent to subsidize Earthlink's network, the question that begs asking is, "What return on investment did the local community get for their funding?"

Municipal networks in places like St. Cloud, FL and Chaska, MN work because the local community has substantial control over the network. In Philadelphia, this control was ceded to private interests and we're looking at the repercussions of this decision. Hopefully, folks will get things turned around in Philly, but that may only happen with strong new leadership.

I'm spending the weekend up in Philadelphia as a part of the SSRC Necessary Knowledge Workshop, which brings together dozens of academics and policy wonks from across the country (and around the globe). The workshop is a chance to hear about various research projects that have been conducted over the past few years. For me, it's a chance to identify academics who are investigating issues that are being discussed and decided upon by decision-makers and regulators inside the beltway. Hopefully, I'll be leaving with a rolodex full of new contacts and a briefcase full of papers.

Proceedings are just about to start...

Computer World is reporting that Philadelphia's CIO, Terry Phillis "believes there is a 75% chance that EarthLink Inc. will sell or abandon its ambitious citywide Wi-Fi network operation in a year." National Public Radio is claiming, "Philadelphia's wireless Internet network was supposed to be a model for the nation, but the project has been plagued by delays and spotty service." Predating this recent surge of media critique, New America Foundation released an in-depth analysis of the pros and cons of the Philadelphia Wireless Initiative. While some folks were scornful of the report, more and more folks are realizing that something's fishy in Philly (and it ain't the oysters).

Three friends of mine have joined the blogosphere and have recently started writing up their thoughts and experiences on issues of digital inclusion, wireless, ICTs, wireless, political-economics, etc. This is great news for those of us looking for non-hyped information on what's really going on in the trenches and all three are worth taking a look at and bookmarking.

Angela Stuber's blog, Diary of a Community Technology Advocate, discusses her work with Community Technology Centers (she's currently President of CTCnet) and the Ohio Community Computing Network, in particular. Focusing on the intersections among CTCs, telecommunications policy, and digital inclusion, a must-read if you're interested in on-the-ground impacts of our current regulatory regime.

Josh Breitbart's blog is focuses on in-depth critical analysis of the Philadelphia wireless initiative and its impact on local communities and media activists. Josh is the Communications Director for Media Tank and a long-time organizer of numerous influential grassroots media projects.

Ross Musselman is Outreach Coordinator for CUWiN and involved in organizing local and regional wireless initiatives and coordinating with partners across the United States and around the globe. He's in regular contact with projects worldwide and discusses the reverberating impacts of local, national, and international political-economic systems.

These are all blogs I will continue reading regularly and permanent links are over in the right-hand column. They're definitely worth checking out.