Build-Out Of Philadelphia's Citywide Network Set To Begin

Construction of Philadelphia's citywide wireless mesh network will begin within weeks following approval this week of the final details by the city council.

"They approved the deal," Derek Pew, interim CEO of Wireless Philadelphia said in an interview. Wireless Philadelphia is the not-for-profit agency designated to oversee the project for the city. Pew said the deal now goes to the mayor, who is expected to sign the project into law.

The approval means that the discussion now turns from the ideas and principals of the network to the actual deployment, Pew said.

"A lot of what was discussed was at the 10,000 foot level," Pew said. "Now, we get into the blocking and tackling."

Specifically, EarthLink, which won the contract to deploy and manage the network, must first pay $2 million in fees for the right to attach Wi-Fi equipment on public utility poles, Pew said. EarthLink must also pay an additional $2 per pole per month, he added.

Once the initial $2 million feel is paid, EarthLink will begin developing the initial 15 square mile part of the network located in the central part of the city, according to Pew.

"That (test) area was designed to cover as many physical, geographic and socioeconomic differences as possible," according to Pew. "We wanted to test where there are tall buildings, trees, parks and areas where there are hospitals."

There will be some testers during this initial deployment phase, but Pew said he didn't expect the service to be commercially available until at the end of August or into September.

"If the deployment goes smoothly and the testing finds few problems, it will go more quickly and if there are things we need to address, it will take a little longer," Pew said. After the initial test area goes commercial, construction will begin on the rest of the network, which ultimately will cover 135 square miles, Pew said.

Philadelphia's citywide network was a lightning rod that drew the ire of telecommunications vendors who initially said it would provide unfair competition and others who said that governments should not be in the business of providing Internet access. However, Philadelphia's business plan calls for EarthLink to assume the risk and also to make the wireless network available to other providers.