EarthLink has notified its Wi-Fi customers in Philadelphia that the broadband service provider will soon be terminating its metropolitan Wi-Fi service in the city. The company, which stopped accepting new customers to the network in early May, said it would provide its Philly customers with a 30-day grace period through June 12 to transfer to another provider.
EarthLink incoming CEO Rolla Huff decided last November that there was no money to be made from metropolitan Wi-Fi. “After thorough review and analysis of our municipal wireless business,” he said, “we have decided that making significant further investments in this business could be inconsistent with our objective of maximizing shareholder value.”
Houston subsequently elected to allow EarthLink to back out of its deal with the city, and the broadband provider is currently in negotiations to ease out of its contract with Anaheim, Calif. However, finding a graceful way of out its agreement with Philadelphia has been problematic.
Finding an Alternative
EarthLink says it has been trying to reach an agreement for months on a free transfer of its entire $17 million Wi-Fi network in Philadelphia. Moreover, the company said it had even offered to sweeten the deal with cash payments and the donation of new equipment.
“Unfortunately, our hope that we could transfer our network to a nonprofit organization that had planned to offer free Wi-Fi throughout Philadelphia will not be realized,” Huff said. “Since we have exhausted our efforts to find a new owner of the network, our only responsible alternative now is to remove our network at our cost, and assist our Wi-Fi customers with alternative ways to access the Internet.”
EarthLink has filed a proceeding in federal court seeking a declaration that EarthLink may remove its equipment from the city’s streetlights. The lawsuit also attempts to limit EarthLink’s potential liability in Philadelphia…