Today's Benton Headlines report on a new story by the Wall Street Journal that more and more telecom incumbents are joining the pro-muni cause:

COMPANIES THAT FOUGHT CITIES ON WI-FI NOW RUSH TO JOIN IN


[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amol Sharma amol.sharma@wsj.com]

Having tried to stop cities from offering cut-rate or free wireless Internet access to their citizens, some large phone and cable companies are now aiming to get into the market themselves. Telecom and cable giants have traditionally been critical of city-sponsored broadband initiatives, questioning their financial viability and, in some cases, even pushing for state laws to bar or restrict them. Now, in an effort to compete with similar initiatives by Google, EarthLink and others, some of the companies are changing their tune. Experts say the companies were forced into the shift in strategy. "It's inevitable that municipal wireless is going to become prevalent in cities large and small," said Craig Settles, author of the book "Fighting the Good Fight for Municipal Wireless." "That can't be ignored. I don't care how much you dislike it as a telco incumbent. You just can't get away from this wave."

From: http://online.wsj.com [1]
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