Current EarthLink deal with SF looks dead
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(InfoWorld) - EarthLink's current contract to build a municipal Wi-Fi network in San Francisco appears to be dead followingÂ a restructuring of the struggling Internet service provider. The deal, hammered out in months of negotiations last year and completed in January, calls for EarthLink to build a citywide network at no cost to the city and sell high-speed service to residents while Google provides a free, slower service over the same network. But after announcing layoffs of nearly half its workforce and a gloomier financial forecast, EarthLink said Wednesday it won't invest any more money in that business model. "We will not devote any new capital to the old muni Wi-Fi model that has us taking all of the risk by fronting all of the capital, then paying to buy our customers one by one," President and CEO Rolla Huff said on a conference call Wednesday morning. That includes currently planned networks where the company hasn't yet made capital investments, EarthLink spokesman Jerry Grasso confirmed. In San Francisco and other such cities, networks would have to be built under new arrangements. "We will approach them to discuss the needed changes to the business model," Grasso said. He declined to comment on the state of discussions with any particular city. San Francisco's deal with EarthLink has yet to be approved by the city and county's Board of Supervisors, where it faces fierce opponents. The deal is due for a vote in the Board's Budget and Finance Committee next week that could send it on for full board approval. But the changes at EarthLink appear to make the current contract a dead issue. EarthLink's municipal Wi-Fi woes come as the company struggles across most of its businesses and as the overall climate for municipal Wi-Fi changes. The promise of free networks supported by advertising or residential subscriptions has faded, and EarthLink and other network providers are looking to local government as "anchor tenants" that support the projects by buying services. Chicago, which had been talking with EarthLink and others about a citywide Wi-Fi project, dropped the plan this week, citing high cost and low subscriber interest. The company forecast municipal Wi-Fi capital investments of $30 million to $35 million in 2007 as it completes projects already begun in Philadelphia; Corpus Christi, Texas; and Anaheim, California, but is not forecasting any capital spending on municipal networks in 2008, Grasso said. Aaron Peskin, president of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, approached EarthLink earlier this year with proposed amendments to the Wi-Fi deal that he hoped would make it more palatable to opponents. However, he rejected the idea of anchor tenancy, saying the city's departments weren't ready to use the Wi-Fi network. Neither Peskin nor San Francisco city officials were immediately available for comment.
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Reuters has a story  about Gavin Newsom finally getting wifi and wanting to hookup San Francisco:  "SAN FRANCISCO  - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has set a goal of providing free wireless Internet activity in his city that sees itself as a vanguard of the Internet revolution."  ""We will not stop until every San Franciscan has access to free wireless Internet service," he said in his annual state of the city address on Thursday. "These technologies will connect our residents to the skills and the jobs of the new economy."  The issue I have is that I'm not sure my tax dollars need to pay for this.  I'm also pretty sure that the city will screw it up.  Why not just do this.  Allow ...
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With merger-and-acquisition fever said to be waning, which deals will be the ones to work out?
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The sun came out for EarthLinks&#39; Philadelphia Wi-Fi network on Thursday even as prospects for its San Francisco project remain shrouded in fog.
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Nearly four years have passed since the peak of the fiber-optic boom, but overcapacity continues to plague carriers, and prices for bandwidth continue to fall. By Joanna Glasner.
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After Earthlink and Google scrapped plans to offer wireless in the city, many weren't so sure. But a start-up is promising to finish the job.
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After enrolling just 65,000 members in two years, is the Registered Traveler program dead in the water?
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(InfoWorld) - San Francisco city officials could bring the city'sÂ proposed Wi-Fi networkÂ closer to reality at two meetings this week as a key leader proposes significant changes to the plan. The network, to be run by EarthLink, has been closely watched because it is one of the biggest of many proposed municipal networks in the U.S. and because it would include a free service offered by Google. The city would sell EarthLink access to some of its streetlight poles and other locations for Wi-Fi access points. Some leaders and activists in the famously liberal city haveÂ slammed the dealÂ on issues including privacy and service and called for a network owned by the city. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors will reconsider an April decision by the city's Planning Department to exempt the network from an environmental review. The San Francisco Neighborhood Antenna-Free Union (SNAFU) appealed the April ruling, saying the access points could cause health problems. The board could let the Planning Department's decision stand, strike it down or decide to study the issue further. On Wednesday, the Board's Budget and Finance committee will vote on the full Wi-Fi proposal. Unless the vote Tuesday requires an environmental review, the only remaining hurdle then would be a vote by the full board. The Budget and Finance panel will hear proposals by board President Aaron Peskin that may boost support for the politically troubled plan. Both the mayor's office and EarthLink are aware of the proposals, Peskin said in an e-mail interview. The mayor's office seems to approve of them, but Peskin doesn't know where EarthLink stands. Peskin's ideas affect aspects of the proposed contract that have drawn much of the fire. Key points include: - Increase the speed of the free service from 300Kbps to 500Kbps. (A service priced at about $20 per month would still deliver 1Mbps.) - Provide for user privacy on the free service. - Add an enforceable requirement that the network provide adequate service in all areas of the city. - Shorten the maximum term of the contract from 16 to eight years and let the city buy the network at full market value at that time. As it stands, the contract initially would be for four years and could be renewed three times, an eternity in the world of wireless technology. - Ensure the city is properly compensated for giving EarthLink access to its light poles. The city and EarthLink settled on the terms of a contract in January. It gave EarthLink the right to pull out if the plan wasn't approved by the Board within 180 days. That time has passed, according to EarthLink spokesman Jerry Grasso, but the company hasn't given up. The plan calls for building a two-square mile test network first before deploying the whole system. Â
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By Paul Dellinger paul.dellinger@roanoke.com (276) 228-4752  One four-year regional effort to bring the future of telecommunications technology to the New River Valley may now be obsolete.  And that's mainly because of funding shortages and sore political feelings.
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Investor's Business Daily - The joint venture of EarthLink  (NasdaqGS:ELNK - News) and SK Telecom   doesn&#39;t want to follow in the footsteps of Walt Disney&#39;s   Mobile ESPN, which shut down last year, or Amp&#39;d Mobile, which filed for bankruptcy reorganization protection on Friday.
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A wireless startup company that planned to build a national public safety communications system has apparently bailed out of the upcoming airwaves auction, a move that creates doubt about the future prospects for the network.
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EarthLink is going mostly wireless, so why not hire a guy with a wireless background?
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Does this down-and-out telecom have any juice left?
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By Miriam Hill, The Philadelphia Inquirer  Dec. 18--The grand experiment is about to begin.   Philadelphia's push to become the country's first major city with free, or at least cheap, wireless Internet connections, takes a big step forward this month as EarthLink Inc.
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(InfoWorld) - Struggling EarthLink Inc. has stepped back from further fundingÂ Helio, its U.S. mobile joint venture with SK Telecom Co. Ltd., amid hints that the South Korean cellular carrier may become the majority shareholder. Helio, founded in 2005 and launched last year, continues to bleed cash even as it gains subscribers. It is expected to lose between US$340 million and $360 million this year, according to EarthLink. But SK Telecom has now invested an additional $270 million in the venture, EarthLink confirmed Friday. At the same time, EarthLink said it won't invest any more in Helio for the time being. The Internet service provider is grappling with declining dial-up subscriptions and has already put most of its municipal wireless business on hold. EarthLink Friday said it is in discussions with SK Telecom to amend their Helio agreement "to reflect the additional investment by SK Telecom and their future governance of Helio," suggesting SK Telecom might take on a larger share of the venture, currently split 50-50. In its own news release, SK Telecom said Helio may be able to raise funds from the market without drawing further investment from either parent. That could mean venture capital, an initial public offering or other sources, said Helio spokesman Rick Heineman. Helio is one of the biggest U.S. examples of an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator), a service provider that piggybacks on an existing carrier's network and tries to stand out with specialized features. Several of these ventures, including Amp'd Mobile Inc. and The Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN Mobile, have shut down or been relaunched under new business models. Analysts and industry veterans say it's hard to buy minutes and data from another carrier and then build a compelling enough service that you can charge a profitable premium. Helio is using multimedia content and slick devices to appeal to young consumers. It had 130,000 subscribers at the end of August after passing the 100,000 mark in the second quarter, Heineman said. The company aims to reach between 200,000 and 250,000 customers and revenue of $140 million to $170 million by the end of this year. SK Telecom said it is now preparing to expand the subscriber base through handset and services development and a larger distribution network. Helio launched backed by initial funding of $200 million from each partner, plus assets such as SK Telecom's billing system, Heineman said. EarthLink last invested in Helio in July, when both partners pledged up to $100 million and made immediate payments of $30 million. SK Telecom's new investment completes the July pledge and adds another $200 million, Heineman said.
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A lost legal struggle with Linux distributor Novell, an apparently truncated fight with IBM, a bankruptcy filing in September...and now, a NASDAQ delisting. Is there any hope at all left for floundering PC Unix vendor SCO?
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A plan to blanket San Francisco with Wi-Fi fell apart last year, but now a startup named Meraki says it plans to deliver free, ad-supported Wi-Fi access in in the city.