Earthlink Bails on SF Wi-Fi Project
Just two days ago Earthlink announced a layoff of 50% of its workforce Additionally, they announced that they felt they were going to re-evaluate their municipal wi-fi plans, which included (among other cities) citywide services in San Francisco. It seems re-evaluation has already taken place, as the San Francisco wi-fi plan, three years in the making, is now dead.
The contract, which was three years in the making, had run into snags with the Board of Supervisors, but ultimately it was undone when Atlanta-based EarthLink announced Tuesday that it no longer believed providing citywide Wi-Fi was economically viable for the company.
Newsom blamed the Board of Supervisors for not acting quickly enough to approve the contract that he said was the best deal any big city had negotiated.
The Board of Supervisors did take a long time to approve the contract. Ultimately though, it was the lack of economic viability and Earthlink's financial woes that doomed the deal.
