by KYW’s Hadas Kuznits
WiFi in Philadelphia could become a reality as the city resumes negotiations with a group to take over the network.
When the city got word that Earthlink would shut down the partially built network on June 12th due to internal problems, the future of WiFi in Philadelphia was unclear (see related story).
However, mayor’s spokesman Doug Oliver says negotiations with a group to take over its wireless Internet are now underway:
"There was a network that was about 75 percent complete, and the question became what do you do with that network, and under what circumstances? So there's been a series of discussions to find out exactly what can be done to preserve the work that's already been done and to finish the project. That process has proven to be challenging but the city has always represented that the city is willing to consider any reasonable proposal that's out on the table."
Oliver says the city is enthusiastic about making WiFi work, but is not willing to complete the project at taxpayers’ expense.
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