City wireless initiative held up by contracts

All that is standing between Philadelphia and a wireless network are several hundred pages of contracts that City Council must approve.

Council members are reviewing the complex set of agreements that will allow Atlanta-based Internet service provider EarthLink Inc. to install wireless access throughout the city.

In reviewing the contracts, lawmakers hope to fix any loopholes and ensure that the city isn't getting in over its head.

"You get into complications when [you] have ... only [one] contractor" working on a long-term project, said Melody Wright, a spokeswoman for Councilwoman Marian Tasco.

Tasco sits on Council's Technology and Information Services Committee, which must approve the contracts before they go before the full Council for a vote.

The committee adjourned its last meeting without making a final decision on the contracts because of members' calls for more time to read them over.

Mayor John Street's plan to achieve full wireless coverage for Philadelphia means that EarthLink must agree to provide wireless Internet service to low-income residents for no more than $9.95 per month.

However, the contract allows wireless rates for other users to fluctuate with the market, and Street's administration estimates that the service will cost around $20 per month for most residents.

The agreement also stipulates that after two years, EarthLink must give 5 percent of its revenue to the private non-profit Wireless Philadelphia, which will support public programs related to the wireless initiative.

EarthLink plans to rent telephone polls from the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, which is partially independent of the city, to set up the wireless network.

Councilwoman Blondell Brown, who co-sponsored the legislation to enact the mayor's plan along with Councilman Frank DiCicco, said that Wireless Philadelphia was established to make sure that the city wouldn't end up paying to keep the network afloat.

"The bottom line is that at no point will the taxpayers be responsible," she said.

EarthLink spokesman Jerry Grasso refused to discuss the contract, saying that the details were confidential.

However, full copies of the contracts are available from the Office of the City Clerk, and there is a public hearing planned for March 30 to discuss the deal.

The next committee meeting to discuss the agreement is scheduled for April 3.

If it is approved, the full Council would have to wait two weeks before taking a final vote.

DiCicco was confident that the committee would approve the proposal in the end.

"I don't expect any significant problems with the legislation," DiCicco's spokesman Brian Abernathy said. "It seems to be going well."

City Solicitor Romulo Diaz said the city has guarded against potential abuses.

"We've looked into all types of mischief," Diaz said.

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