Philadelphia Will Announce the First Large-Scale Public Wifi Plan Tomorrow

This may be a seminal moment for cities going wireless and going through a cycle of economic development. Mayor Street of Philadelphia and his office have decided to go municipally-owned with their wifi plan, despite Comcast’s opposition to the fact that they do not have rights over the plan. The city is creating public and private partnerships so that the whole city goes wireless in just a few years with some areas completely free and some areas subsidized. It sounds like a great plan where there will be some room for commercial ISP’s and non-profit ISP’s, but we want to make sure that what is at the top of the agenda is the public’s interest, getting wireless across depreciated communities and in places of gathering.

So if you’re in Philly you can stop by the Mayor’s Reception Room at 12:00PM tomorrow, Thursday. If you miss that you can get on an audio conference call-in and web conference hosted by Dianah Neff, CIO of Philadelphia, which will be offered at 3:00 p.m. Here is more info on that. We suggest you push for the public’s interest at every step.