EarthLink to Take Over New Orleans Wi-Fi Network

Telecom News Editorials Reports Glossary

7:00 am on March 30, 2006 | Category: Business, Wireless Technology, Telecom Services, Internet, Wi-Fi

With its free emergency Wi-Fi network under pressure from BellSouth and the Louisiana state government, the still-recovering city of New Orleans has managed to make some progress in transferring the network to private control.

EarthLink, has now agreed to take over the Wi-Fi network in the near future. The Atlanta-based ISP plans to transform the network into a paid service, and spend $15 million on expanding it over the next three years.

“We really feel for the city,” said EarthLink’s president of municipal networking, Donald Berryman. “They’re still basically at a crawl in terms of communications there.”

EarthLink’s commitment to the network will keep it up and running, in compliance with a state law that forbids cities from operating their own public broadband offerings.